In memory of Medgar Evers

By Chuck Hobbs

During the Civil Rights Movement, Mississippi NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers was widely considered”Public Enemy #1” for the Ku Klux Klan and the Whites Citizens Councils that opposed his efforts to register Black Mississippi residents to vote.

Born in Decatur, Mississippi on July 2, 1925, Evers attended segregated public schools and after graduating from high school, enlisted in the United States Army where he eventually rose to the rank of sergeant while fighting Nazi tyranny in the European Theater during World War II. Evers returned from the war and enrolled at Alcorn A&M College, which today is Alcorn State University, an HBCU in Lorman, Mississippi. During his senior year of college, Evers applied for a seat in the entering class of the University of Mississippi School of Law—but was denied admission. Undaunted, he began selling life insurance and was named the Field Secretary for the NAACP in 1954.

One of Evers’s first major acts was investigating the brutal lynching of Emmett Till, the 14-year old Chicago boy whose gruesome death for the alleged offense of being “uppity” towards a white woman became an international cause celebre. While Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam (below) were charged with Till’s death, they were acquitted in less than an hour by an all white male jury.

Following the Bryant/ Milam acquittals, Evers shifted his focus to voter registration and legal integration. In the 1950′s, the overwhelming majority of Mississippi’s counties were Black but due to Jim Crow, the state maintained

Protect Minneapolis: Say No to expanding the slot and perimeter rule at DCA

By Lawrence Wright Guest Commentary

As a Minneapolis resident, I’m concerned about the proposed expansion of the slot and perimeter rule at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). As it stands, this rule limits daily flights and their distance at DCA, maintaining fairness and connectivity across the nation, including at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP). However, through the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2023, some lawmakers want to change this rule for their benefit by creating additional direct flights that would undermine this system and take away from current flights, jeopardizing our city’s interests and the state’s commerce.

In 1966, the slot and perimeter rule was established to address concerns about capacity constraints, safety, and noise pollution out of DCA. By limiting the number of flights and restricting nonstop destinations to within 1,250 miles, it sought to strike a balance between protecting the communities surrounding DCA, efficient air travel, and equal access to Washington D.C. It ensured that the nation’s capital was accessible and able to serve the number of inbound and outbound flights daily.

Over time, this balance at DCA has successfully prevented local bottlenecks and nationwide travel disruptions while ensuring a level playing field across the country. It has also fostered healthy competition and facilitated commerce opportunities for cities like Minneapolis by prioritizing access to DCA for many major cities across the country. Through this, MSP has been able to develop into the renowned travel hub it is today. However, expanding the slot and perimeter rule could have detrimental effects on the city’s flight options, which could impede our city’s national and international connectivity. Prioritizing an increase of flights to other cities while decreasing the number of flights through MSP would negatively impact Minneapolis’s business and tourism sectors. This could lead to a significant blow to the nearly $16 billion in annual economic output generated by MSP. A potential decrease in commerce would slow down our state’s economic growth and diminish the city’s standing as a vibrant and thriving metropolis. Moreover, by an apartheid political climate in which only five percent of voting age Blacks were registered and in most elections, fewer than one percent actually cast ballots.

In 1962, Evers took a second crack at the University of Mississippi, this time