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Ashton Pittman

29 Jun, 12 tweets, 6 min read

NEW: No single person can claim credit for retiring the old Mississippi state flag a year ago today.

It was driven by decades of work by Black Mississippi activists and leaders. Here's the first in a series on the people who made it happen. mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mi…

National & state media gave much credit to the SEC & NCAA threatening boycotts unless the flag changed.

"But I think what got our attention was the youth movement,” Sen. Hillman Frazier said, pointing to thousands of Mississippi #BLM protesters. mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mi…

Sen. Frazier: “When the young people had the big rally in the City of Jackson peacefully asking for change, that kind of forced all of us as legislators to come together. … They don’t want to leave the state; they want to stay here and make it better." mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mi…

Mississippi Black Lives Matter activist Calvert White on the flag change: “It was a synergy of young energy and older wisdom, honestly. ... It’s a thread that has passed through generations, involving many great organizers and citizens.”
mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mi…

Sen. Hillman Frazier: “Those loud voices can intimidate some of the lawmakers—and did back in 2001. But in 2020, they were trying to get us to see that we can obtain this peacefully as opposed to what happened in South Carolina.” mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mi…

@kimberlydgriffi

As @kimberlydgriffi & @DonnerKay noted in this piece, getting white leaders in the Mississippi Legislature onboard was, of course, necessary to make change happened.

But they joined the effort only after Black activists spent decades pushing them.theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

It was important for MS House Speaker Gunn to break silence & support changing the state flag in 2015 after the Charleston massacre. His county was one of the few that voted to change it in 2001.

But even in 2014, he was declining to comment on the issue. (Clarion-Ledger👇🏻)

Sen. Frazier said COVID-19 made changing the flag in 2020 possible.

“COVID gave us more time to talk about the issues and have heart-to-heart discussions. … We had the chance to educate one another.” mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mi…

Sen. Frazier: “The sports leagues did persuade some people in terms of revenue concerns and not being able to host regional tournaments for some people in our state. That did inform some people. But I think what got our attention was the youth movement." mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mi…

Sen. Frazier: “(In 2020), you had Black, white, Hispanic—all different colors came together & showed us where we can go together. Young people used diversity to their advantage and increased their voice." mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mi…

@MSFreePress

Help @MSFreePress tell more stories like this and chronicle our ever-unfolding history. We're $6,000 away from our July 1 $100,000 fundraising goal..

Help us cross the finish line & produce more truth-to-power, people-first journalism with a donation: mfp.ms/donate

@NickJudin

Thank you to @NickJudin for contributing to this report by interviewing Calvert White, one of the Black Lives Matter organizers behind last year's historic march in Jackson where activists demanded a new flag on June 6, 2020—weeks before #MSLeg acted. mississippifreepress.org/13375/black-mi…

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More from @ashtonpittman

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

30 Jun

Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy says Democrats only want to remove white supremacist statues from the US Capitol to hide their history of "supporting slavery, pushing Jim Crow laws & the KKK.”

120 Republicans voted to keep the statues today. mississippifreepress.org/13398/two-miss…

Rep. Kevin McCarthy: "Let me state a simple fact: All of the statues being removed by this bill are statues of Democrats.”

218 Dems voted to remove the white supremacist statues, joined by 67 Republicans.

All 120 votes to keep the statues came from Rs. mississippifreepress.org/13398/two-miss…

In Kevin McCarthy’s statement today, he claimed that Democrats want to “double down” on their racist history by “replacing the racism of the past” with “critical race theory.” (What he described was not actual critical race theory). mississippifreepress.org/13398/two-miss…

Read 4 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

30 Jun

NEW: Two white Mississippi Republicans voted to keep statues of white supremacists on display in the U.S. Capitol, including Mississippi's statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Jim Crow architect J.Z. George.

Both were slave owners. #HR3005 mississippifreepress.org/13398/two-miss…

“Statues of those who served in the Confederacy or supported slavery or segregation should not have a place of honor in the Capitol—that’s why I voted to #RemoveHate today."
—Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, the only Mississippi member to vote for #HR3005 mississippifreepress.org/13398/two-miss…

Republican U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy claimed today that Democrats were trying to "hide their shameful history" of southern Democrats supporting slavery with #HR3005 which all Democrats voted for and most Republicans voted against. mississippifreepress.org/13398/two-miss…

Read 12 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

28 Jun

It's really f**ked up that Johnny Depp lost his role in Fantastic Beasts after Amber Heard accused him of domestic violence.

But when evidence came out that she was the one repeatedly assaulting him, including by severing his finger (pic)...she keeps her role on Aquaman?

Here's a tape in which Amber Heard admitted that she repeatedly started physical fights with Johnny Depp, including hitting him and throwing things at him.

She mocked him for always "running away" even when there's no "hitting" or "throwing things"...!

Johnny Depp: "If things get physical, we have to separate."

Amber Heard: "No we don't."

Depp: "We have to be apart from one another. ... There can be no physical violence."

Heard: "...I can't promise you I won't get physical again."

Read 7 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

26 Jun

On 9/2/20, Brent wrote, "I've never taken a flu shot and I'll never take a COVID shot."

On 5/3/21: "Zinc & vitamin D regiment > Moderna and Pfizer"

On 6/23/21: "This is Brent's daughter... dad died of COVID...PLEASE save your families this heartache. Go get your shot."

😞😔😔

@tatereeves

Brent H's Twitter feed also shows that he believed Gov. @tatereeves' ending of the mask mandate was actually HELPING lower COVID rates and that it was now safe to go out in public unvaccinated and without a mask.

Please... get the shot. And til then at least, wear a mask.

I'm sick to my stomach realizing that Brent H interacted with me on several occasions. But my message about the dangers of COVID and the need to get vaccinated didn't get through to him.

I wish I'd known how to get through to people like him when this pandemic hit. I still do.

Read 8 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

26 Jun

Today marks:

18 years since Lawrence v. Texas struck down state laws that made gay sex a crime.

8 years since US v. Windsor said the federal gov't must recognize same-sex marriages.

6 years since Obergefell v. Hodges said gay couples have a right to marry in all states. #Pride

"Times can blind us to certain truths & later generations can see that laws once thought necessary serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom."
—Lawrence v Texas, 6/26/03 #pride

"DOMA instructs all federal officials, and indeed all persons with whom same-sex couples interact, including their own children, that their marriage is less worthy than the marriages of others. The federal statute is invalid..."
—U.S. v. Windsor, 6/26/2013 #Pride

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Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

26 Jun

https://twitter.com/rightwingwatch/status/1408437120457392128

THREAD: White guilt is so damn destructive.

I've often been accused of suffering with "white guilt" for speaking against racism.

I didn't get that criticism; I feel a duty to speak against racism—not guilt.

In reality, the "white guilt" accusations are pure deflection.

https://twitter.com/rightwingwatch/status/1408437120457392128

First of all, guilt simply means "a feeling of having done wrong OR failed in an obligation."

I didn't create the racist systems that I benefit from as a white man.

But once I became aware of how those systems privilege me, I would've been guilty if I'd stayed silent.

Imagine being on the top academically at your school. You get all the awards, praise, privileges.

Then you find out your parents paid off the school to unfairly advantage you.

It's not your fault. You need not feel guilty—but you should feel an obligation to right the wrongs.