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Donna Ladd

@DonnerKay

Jan 23

1. I'm digging into racist muck of Mississippi Sovereignty Commission files for their take on violence in Jackson/Hinds County for #MSRaceViolence piece. A 1967 Mississippi Crime Commission report, and it's full of gems. This one is full US "history" many would like taught, eh?

2. Judge Tom P. Brady, the vicious Citizens Council leader who compared Black people to apes and helped stoke white terrorism against Black people and traveled the whole nation to speak about supposed white superiority, was one of the key members of the 1967 Miss Crime Commission

3. And erudite Gov. Paul Johnson who created the commission? During his campaign he said NAACP should for n_____s, apes, alligators, coons and possum. He also helped white parents get state tax $ to send kids to new whites-only segregation academies that openly taught racism.

Read 47 tweets

Donna Ladd

@DonnerKay

Jan 22

@msstate

1. I sure wish the internet existed back when Stephen D. Lee, first president of my alma mater @msstate, led textbook censorship and targeted educators to ensure historic lies. Here, @11_mcgee and I explained what #SDLee did to and from Mississippi. mississippifreepress.org/4650/mississip…

2. Keep reading about #SDLee’s censorship sins … more at mississippifreepress.org/4650/mississip…

@msstate

3. If you didn’t know this, Stephen D. Lee was a real son of a bitch and racist and is a favorite now of racist organizations. My university @msstate still glorifies the hell out of him. More from our piece about #SDLee’s censorship leadership:

Read 6 tweets

Donna Ladd

@DonnerKay

Jan 22

So a state senator 17 years my junior told me to "go to bed" rather than answering my question about the source of his CRT graphic, and that tells you so much of what you need to know about #msleg right there in one tweet.

Best part, folks? It was 7:30pm. I still had an evening of Todd’s yummy dinner, catching up with Boba Fett and reading ahead of me. It was such a … provincial … attempt to silence me. I don’t go to Red Lobster at 5 p.m., then drown myself with cheap bourbon and pass out by 7.

BTW, I appreciate all the outrage over this, but it is nothing new. For 20 years now as a woman editor in Mississippi, I’ve been the target of insults, lies and continual misogyny, from all along political spectrum. I have a receipt cabinet like you wouldn’t believe.

Read 5 tweets

Donna Ladd

@DonnerKay

Jan 8

Reading House Un-American Activities Committee's Klan hearing transcripts again (here with Grand Klucker Sam Bowers (Laurel) refusing to answer questions), it's really not hard to spot what we could today call "Twitter logic" among grown men red-baiting as an excuse for terrorism

BTW, if you're white from Mississippi and ever wondered if your dad, granddad, uncles were in prominent KKK positions in the 1960s in the state, this report names a lot of names. Not all or rank-and-file members, but many leaders. Steel yourself and look.

archive.org/stream/activit…

If your family was part of a white-terrorist org, you don't have to collapse into guilt, shame or denial. BUT understand this wasn't long ago, and that the terrorism and barrier creation still affects Black Mississippians today. Decide to be part of the solution. Start with facts

Read 17 tweets

Donna Ladd

@DonnerKay

Dec 8, 2021

https://twitter.com/SeriFeliciano/status/1468402621245497344

I'll be honest. A lot of the vibe I and many students from rural southern places have long gotten in higher-education circles outside of Mississippi is condescension. I've spoken publicly before about how I was shocked by belittling responses to things I didn't know in north.

https://twitter.com/SeriFeliciano/status/1468402621245497344

I've long looked at those as lessons about how-not-to-teach. And some of it challenged my mental health and sent me into therapy. Here's the thing: I knew things they didn't, and still do. In j-school, I was stunned at lack of intellecual curiosity about what I knew about South.

Growing up here in Mississippi, it was a toxic stew of miseducation (lies) about our history and low expectations about what was possible for Mississippi kids, and too little prep about what to expect outside bubble here. Plus, belittlement for wanting more than a husband, kids.

Read 9 tweets

Donna Ladd

@DonnerKay

Sep 18, 2021

@msfreepress

What a year and a half it’s been. Thank you for supporting @msfreepress nonprofit journalism in so many ways. It’s been a lot of work, but also so gratifying to watch our new model for journalism explode in our home state. Thanks to all of you in and outside Mississippi.

https://twitter.com/MSFreePress/status/1438591705868128273

@msfreepress

BTW, we’re about to take @msfreepress journalism to Level 2 of our model as our first official systemic-reporting bloc kicks off. You’ll see what I mean very soon. Stay close.

@msfreepress

We are also about to announce growth of our team. Two things made this happen: (1) continual, loud, active reader support in so many way, and (2) the team’s excellent journalism that helps us grow our funding base. When I say that the @msfreepress is teamwork, I mean y’all, too.