Donna Ladd said what she said.šŸ˜˜ Profile picture
Truth to power, always. DM tips. Editor, Co-founder, CEO: @msfreepress, @jxnfreepress @msyouthmedia ā€¢ she/her ā€¢ my views here ā€¢ I decide my lane
Oct 29 ā€¢ 7 tweets ā€¢ 3 min read
The Trump propagandists continually borrows phrases from Nazi Germany and makes them talking points in their rhetoric. LĆ¼genpresse is a big one Nazis used to discredit those who point it out. From @haaretzcom in 2017:
haaretz.com/us-news/2017-1ā€¦ x.com/seanmil7815897ā€¦ Hereā€™s that U.S. LĆ¼genpresse headline in @haaretzcom: Image
Sep 15 ā€¢ 20 tweets ā€¢ 8 min read
1. šŸ§µšŸ“¢Amid Trump-Vance false claims of Haitians eating pets, and just in time for #DemocracyDay, my new essay connects historic dots to show similar racist attacks on immigrants in U.S. history as targeted groups shifts.

I started with the Chinese.

mississippifreepress.org/editors-note-fā€¦ 2. Despite the Chinese building Transcontinental Railroad in backbreaking work, white Americans called them every kind of name before demanding passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 to block them from the U.S.ā€”until 1943ā€”like ā€œrat-eaters." mississippifreepress.org/editors-note-fā€¦
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May 27 ā€¢ 4 tweets ā€¢ 1 min read
It's cute to watch the NO THE PARTIES DIDN'T SWITCH crowd try to reconstruct arguments on the fly when presented with evidence that it is established historic fact that white Dems fled to the new Republican Party bc national Dems embraced civil rightsā€”and took racism with them. Whole GOP strategy to save itself was appeal to the old Dixiecrats and their ilk. It's why politics are so broken + putrid today. All the bullshit grasping at the past to maintain and consolidate power as white America moves rapidly toward becoming the minority. Whiteness, man.
Mar 10 ā€¢ 20 tweets ā€¢ 11 min read
1. I'm inspired by @NicLott, @jarvisdortch, others to share @msfreepress and other clips involving L.Q.C. Lamar. First, learn about the Mississippi Plan (remember LQC Lamar and most white southerners were Democrats then, well before party switch): nps.gov/vick/learn/hisā€¦ 2. L.Q.C. Lamar (who much of Oxford, Miss. is named for) was a slaver and rapid white supremacist (and opportunist) as we show here: this along means he deserves no statue anywhere: mississippifreepress.org/4351/the-past-ā€¦
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Jan 3 ā€¢ 10 tweets ā€¢ 5 min read
In research today, I ran across this program for Jackson convention for Mississippi's "Patriotic American Youth," where segregationists and red-baiters worked hard to create the next generation of, well, you know.

But I'm sharing it now because the "Coke breaks" tickled me. Image The group, by the way, was started by Mrs. Sara McCorkle, the highest ranking woman Citizens Council leader in Mississippi, as far as I can tell. She was in charge of youth propaganda.
Mar 8, 2023 ā€¢ 11 tweets ā€¢ 4 min read
1. Just clipped this for y'all for a quick Mississippi segregation academy lesson from early 1970s. There were racist segs (whites-only) and there were Citizens Council school run by Bill Simmons & his goons. Here: Hanging Moss, Manhattan, McCluer, Adams Cty Private were Council 2. Union Acad, Brandon Acad, Amite Acad, Copiah, Indianola Acad, Simpson Acad, Bayou Acad, Greenville Christian (I think), Pillow Acad, Jackson Prep were whites-only academies. Many more.
Council schools more overtly taught that Black people were born inferior; thus couldn't mix
Sep 14, 2022 ā€¢ 11 tweets ā€¢ 3 min read
All, please donā€™t be shocked that Mississippi has *always* been run as a state to provide spoils to wealthy white men with mediaā€™s complicity, either directly or by focusing on trivia and horse races. It is systemic corruption built and maintained to multiply, feed itself forward Fixing this racist, misogynistic power system is going to take far more than convicting Klansmen from 60 years ago or exposing politicians recently out of office.

It will take a full interrogation of the systems that allow corruption to continuing propagatingā€”and mediaā€™s role.
Sep 14, 2022 ā€¢ 5 tweets ā€¢ 2 min read
Itā€™s as good a day as any for all Mississippi journalism outlets to start questioning how much corruption and incompetence exists here in state government including among officials still in office.

Start being proactive rather than reactive. No sacred cows. Itā€™s the job, Caution, though: Careful journslism process is important in this arena to avoid being set up or used, or paying price when your target isnā€™t indicted or is acquitted. This is training everyone needs.
Advice: Donā€™t characterize in reporting or on social media. Show, donā€™t tell.
Sep 13, 2022 ā€¢ 10 tweets ā€¢ 4 min read
UPDATE šŸ§µ We learned last week that the postal code for these mailers belongs to Ben Sapp, apparently of Brandon; moved here from Alabama. They are registered to his company, Archon Strategies. I reached him this morning, he seemed surprised, said one thing and hung up on me. 1/ Sapp first said "no comment" on mailers under his postal code. When I pressed, he said quickly:
"At 1-Vision, we print for a variety of different customers, clients that use our print shop."
His social profiles show that he owns Archon and works for 1-Vision. 2/
Sep 13, 2022 ā€¢ 4 tweets ā€¢ 2 min read
šŸ§µ ICYM me talking back to latest round of attacks. See my previous Horhn tweet and note what said publicly to me when he was running against Lumumba for mayor and I suggested he might serve Jackson better by remaining in #msleg. Iā€™m only editor in Jackson who has seen long game. Or only one whoā€™s not complicit and part of it. (Looks north.) Itā€™s one reason theyā€™ve tried to discredit me over the years. I donā€™t fool easily, connect dots.
Make no mistake: they see Jackson water crisis as chance to ā€œtake the city back.ā€ Itā€™s on their social media and blogs.
Sep 13, 2022 ā€¢ 5 tweets ā€¢ 1 min read
But racists have long said Jackson leaders couldā€™t be allowed to control funds such as PILT revenue (or even our own sales tax), so hell no on PILT. The daddy BS has long hurt the capital city. Control issues on steroids. No local control undress itā€™s white control. *unless, not undress
Sep 13, 2022 ā€¢ 14 tweets ā€¢ 6 min read
1. Whoa. I hadn't seen this state-funded Mississippi Sovereignty Commission Q&A stating its members' views. Thanks, @mulejail. Here's quick thread of my annotated highlights. First:
Uh huh. Everybody knew who lynched Mack Charles Parker down in Bilbo-land, you lying sacks o' shit 2. Not sure of the date of this doc, but Bryant and Milam confessed to Emmett Till's torture and murder in Look Magazine in January 1956. #msleg formed this racist/terrorist Sovereignty Commission in March 1956.

So.
Sep 12, 2022 ā€¢ 4 tweets ā€¢ 2 min read
I just dipped into a local cesspool looking for an old post for my new editor's note, going up now, and it's hilarious to watch white folks whining about lack of representation they have since...white flight due to integration. Plus, how patience is required to take back cap city ImageImageImage My guess is most of those posts come from suburbs. Still: Many of 16% white folks in Jackson act like they deserve a reward and control for deciding to ā€œstayā€
Sep 5, 2022 ā€¢ 7 tweets ā€¢ 3 min read
1. LAST THREE DAYS.
For those new to Old Mississippi game, ugly racist and/or misogynistic hate comes out when (a) my publications reporting of real systemic history/context regardless of party hits old guardā€™s collective nerve + (b) when national media elevate our work. 2. For the 20 years since I co-founded @JxnFreePress this month, that has been very personal against because, you know, white women arenā€™t supposed to critique the powerful in Mississippi. Itā€™s just not done. I have a file drawer full of responses, basically three types. ā€¦
Sep 3, 2022 ā€¢ 6 tweets ā€¢ 2 min read
1. ICYM it last night. This man in Rankin County, whom I donā€™t know, repeatedly called me a ā€œc*ntā€ in Facebook messages with other choice remarks because he didnā€™t like my ā€œsmugā€ remarks about racism on @CBSNews.

2. Know that so many women in Mississippi are afraid to share opinions publicly due to smears and attacks like this. They tell me all the time privately while cheering me onā€”for 20 years now. Iā€™ve been called everything and every false rumor spread by these types (left $ right).
Jan 23, 2022 ā€¢ 55 tweets ā€¢ 31 min read
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
Jan 22, 2022 ā€¢ 6 tweets ā€¢ 8 min read
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/mississipā€¦ 2. Keep reading about #SDLeeā€™s censorship sins ā€¦ more at mississippifreepress.org/4650/mississipā€¦
Jan 22, 2022 ā€¢ 5 tweets ā€¢ 2 min read
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 Toddā€™s yummy dinner, catching up with Boba Fett and reading ahead of me. It was such a ā€¦ provincial ā€¦ attempt to silence me. I donā€™t go to Red Lobster at 5 p.m., then drown myself with cheap bourbon and pass out by 7.
Jan 21, 2022 ā€¢ 8 tweets ā€¢ 4 min read
1. Again: CRT does not do this. Opposite, in fact. Interesting that #msleg never once got around to doing this to ensure white-superiority garbage wasn't taught. I am white, not inferior or superior to a damn person and have brains to understand perils of systemic "whiteness." 2. Meantime, Mississippi segregation academies and council schools long taught white superiority including that Black kids were born inferior, IQ garbage, etc.

I'm very curious what schools all the people who just voted for this mess attended and how integrated. #msleg
Jan 8, 2022 ā€¢ 17 tweets ā€¢ 7 min read
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/activitā€¦
Dec 8, 2021 ā€¢ 9 tweets ā€¢ 4 min read
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. 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.