Celebrating Mound Bayou, Mississippi, The Oldest All-Black Town in the U.S.

“This place was a sanctuary. If anyone wanted to lynch you, you could come here and you’d be safe.”

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJuly 27, 2021Black Cemeteries, Black history, Mississippi history, African Americans, Mound Bayou, Mississippi Delta, Reena Evers-Everette, Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, Isaiah T. Montgomery, Benjamin T. Green, Medgar Evers, Magnolia Mutual

Beware Crime Panic Politics

I’m a historian of policing and prisons in Mississippi. Here we go again.

PerspectiveKatherine MitchellJuly 21, 2021policing, prisons, Gov. Tate Reeves, Jackson, Department of Public Safety, crime panic, Winfield Scott Featherston, Gov. James K. Vardaman, Gates v. Collier

MCIR’s Justice Squad Investigates A Cold Case in New Orleans

As supervisor of MCIR’s Justice Squad, I try to guide college students who surpass me in skills!

MCIR’s Justice Squad includes undergraduates from Millsaps College who are interested in investigative journalism. Each semester, members can propose their own projects or Jerry Mitchell assigns a cold case for their investigation.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJuly 6, 2021MCIR Justice Squad, Millsaps College, Journalism, Investigative Reporting, Up Stairs Lounge, New Orleans, Pulse Nightclub, Stewart Butler, Robert W. Fiesler, Frank Perez

Stuck in the Senate with the Violence Against Women Act, a bill that would help domestic violence victims

“When I knew I had to leave,” Victoria told me, “I only had my two kids. No money. No place to go.” Victoria is not the real name of a woman in her early 30s, a native Mississippian who had left an abusive partner.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJune 29, 2021VAWA, Violence against women act, Biden, Women leaving, abused women, battered women, shelters, crime victims, VOCA, senate, house, Chuck Shumer, Dick Durbin, Crime Victims Fund Act, Pat Toomey

Legend of Journalism Speaks in Jackson, Still Sounds Like He’s From the Delta

Curtis Wilkie, one of Mississippi’s best and best known journalists, came to Jackson last week to talk about his new book, When Evil Lived in Laurel: The “White Knights” and The Murder of Vernon Dahmer.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJune 22, 2021Curtis WIlkie, When Evil Lived in Laurel, Boston Globe, Ole Miss, The Boys on the Bus, Dixie, Willie Morris, Tom Landrum

How the 2021 Violence Against Women Act Will Help Take Guns From Abusers Guilty of Domestic Violence

As Pheonecia Ratliff’s story shows, the main threat to victims of domestic violence is the prevalence of guns. Once her abusive ex-boyfriend bonded out of jail in Canton in May 2020, he could have gotten one from a friend or relative.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJune 15, 2021Violence against women act, VAWA, domestic homicide, domestic violence, domestic abuse, Phoenecia Ratliff, firearms, gun violence

Where Do Israel and Hamas Go From Here? Let’s Hope Their Negotiators See Oslo.

After another deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, which controls Palestinian territories, change is coming to the top of the Israeli government.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJune 8, 2021Israel, Hamas, Palestine, Oslo, Norway, PLO, Yasir Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, Clinton, Foreign Correspondent, Fafo Institute

Preserving Black Cemeteries to Save History

Two weeks ago, I stood in Onisha Burks Memory Gardens Cemetery, an old graveyard behind the main cemetery in Canton, a central Mississippi city with a large Black population.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJune 2, 2021Onisha Burks Memory Gardens, Black Cemeteries, Black history, Mississippi history, Dr. Mignon Chinn, burial grounds, African Americans, slaves, plantations, Unmarked, unmarked graves, Monticello

U.S. Supreme Court takes aim at Roe V. Wade by deciding to hear Mississippi Case

By considering Mississippi’s 2018 law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, the U.S. Supreme Court is tipping off its plans to chip away at the right to abortion, experts says.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMay 26, 2021Dobbs v. Jackson, abortions, Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade, South, heartbeat laws, TRAP laws, Pro-life, rape

As Hate and Hardship Rise, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Seek Support from Non-Asians

In March 2021, Lisa Sun, a young Asian American fashion CEO in New York City, was concerned about her Asian immigrant seamstresses.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMay 17, 2021Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month, attacks on Asian Americans, AAPI hate, hate crime, China virus, Kung Flu

On Mother’s Day, Native American Families Are Missing Mothers, Sisters, Aunts, Daughters, Granddaughters

Mother’s Day is a complicated holiday. There are children who have lost their mothers, and there are mothers who have lost their children. For those who have only memories, seeing Mother’s Day cards, flowers and balloons all over can be very painful.

Missing or Murdered in Indian Country, Gone Without Justice

Resplendent in her Southern Ute of Colorado garb, Diane Millich told a harrowing story. In the late 1990s, at 26, she had married a White man who she said slapped, kicked, punched and abused her emotionally, beginning on the third day of their marriage.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMay 4, 2021Diane Millich, tribal police, Native American, Violence against women act, VAWA, Native women, Native children, Alaska, domestic homicide, domestic violence, domestic abuse

After the Chauvin Verdict: Police Reform, Not Defunding

All over the country, violent crime has spiked almost everywhere, including Mississippi, during the pandemic.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellApril 28, 2021violent crime, police defunding, restorative justice, Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, Police reform, police training, New Jersey

A Hidden Cost of Domestic Violence: How Big Is This Secret Epidemic?

An abusive man may stomp on his partner’s head and neck, wearing his heavy work boots. Or he might hit her head repeatedly against a wall, at least twice a week, for a year. Maybe he pushes her so hard she falls and knocks her head against a massive piece of furniture, giving her a concussion.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellApril 21, 2021Domestic abuse, domestic violence, head injuries, concussions, Brain injury awareness month, Center on partner-inflicted brain injury, dr. Julianna Nemeth, Pink concussions, Rachel Ramirez, Dr. Eve Valera, NIH

MCIR LIVE Explores 1963 Bombing in Birmingham: ‘It Is Never Too Late for a Man To Be Held Accountable For His Crimes.’

Four people who contributed to a major chapter in civil rights history joined MCIR founder Jerry Mitchell last week to talk about justice achieved after almost 40 years.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellApril 14, 2021MCIR Live, Birmingham Church Bombing, KKK, four little girls, Sen. Doug Jones, Lisa McNair, Andy Sheldon, Bill Baxley, Jerry Mitchell, civil rights movement

A Sentence of Six Seconds: How Prison Rodeos Buck the System

Burl Cain, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, used to be warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellApril 5, 2021Burl Cain, Angola, Louisiana State Penitentiary, Parchman, commissioner, Angola Prison rodeo, The Wildest Show in the South, Parchman Farm

A Mass Shooting Often Starts At Home Against a Woman

A new week, a new mass shooting. Just seven days after a gunman killed eight people in Atlanta, including six women of Korean or Chinese descent, another shooter killed 10 people in a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 29, 2021domestic violence, abuse, women killed, Asian Americans, mass shooting, Atlanta, Boulder shooting, columbine, femicide, Rachel Louise Snyder, Violence against women act, the boyfriend loophole

Some Domestic Violence Takes Place Behind Two Sets of Closed Doors: At Home, In the Bedroom, In Secrecy

Since the mass shooting in Atlanta last week that killed six women of Asian descent, Asian Americans, especially women, are sick at heart, angry -- and afraid.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 23, 2021domestic violence, abuse, women killed, Asian Americans, mass shooting, Atlanta, attacks on Asian Americans, Tanya Selvaratnam, Cathy Park Hong, immigrants, sexual assault, Eric Sneiderman, Kiese Laymon

What Should a Memorial to Victims of Intimate Partner Violence Be Like?

Whatta win! At the 2021 Grammys on Sunday night, rapper, singer and songwriter Megan Thee Stallion, wearing a spectacular strapless orange dress with a train, won Best Rap Song and Rap Performance and Best New Artist.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 16, 2021Megan Thee Stallion, domestic violence, Tory Lanez, abuse, Why I speak up for Black Women, women killed, misdemeanor, Quanda Johnson

‘A New Sheriff’ Will Make History at the Interior Department

March is Women’s History Month and Native American Heritage Month, too.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 9, 2021Women's History Month, Native American Heritage Month, Deb Haaland, President Biden, Secretary of the Interior, New Mexico, Laguna Pueblo nation, Mississippi Republican senators, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, First Indigenous woman