2023-04-22 22:12:54
JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has warned that “separate and unequal policing” will return to the populous Mississippi capital. majority black, under a state police department, and the human rights organization is suing the governor and other officials over it.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves says the violence in Jackson has made it necessary to expand the places where the Capital Police can patrol, as well as authorize some judges to be appointed and not elected.
However, the NAACP points out in the lawsuit filed Friday that they are serious violations of the principle of autonomy since they take control of the police and some courts out of the hands of residents.
“In certain areas of Jackson, a citizen may be arrested by a police department headed by a state-appointed officer, charged by a state-appointed prosecutor, tried before a state-appointed judge, and sentenced to prison in a state penitentiary regardless of the severity of the act,” the lawsuit states.
Derrick Johnson, the national president of the NAACP, resides in Jackson. At a community meeting a few weeks ago, he pointed out that the police law would treat black people as “second-class citizens.”
The law was approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the state with a Republican and white majority. Jackson is governed by Democrats and approximately 83% of its residents are black, the highest percentage of any US city.
The governor said this week that the Jackson Police Department is severely understaffed and believes the state Capital Police can provide stability. In the city of regarding 150,000 inhabitants, there have been more than a hundred homicides per year in the last three years.
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