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W e d n e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 18, 2026
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REV. JESSE JACKSON OCT. 8, 1941 — FEB. 17, 2026
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses the crowd at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Revelers dance in the street during a traditional Courir de Mardi Gras hosted by Le Vieux Mardi Gras de Cajuns on Tuesday in Eunice. On Mardi Gras in Eunice, participants take to the streets early in the morning on horseback or on foot and wind through the countryside. Wearing colorful, handmade costumes, which include masks and tall, pointed hats, known as capuchins, they parade past farms, stopping to playfully ‘beg’ for food and drinks. At different points along the way, the leader, referred to as the capitaine, releases a chicken for the frenzied revelers to run after. When the entourage arrives back in town mid-afternoon, they partake in a communal gumbo.
Jesse Jackson, who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after King, dies
BY SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press
Revelers dive for a loose chicken during Tuesday’s Courir de Mardi Gras.
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‘A servant leader’
ABOVE: A masked reveler applies face paint to Mia Bundick on Tuesday in Eunice. RIGHT: Dre Courville holds up his catch during the Courir de Mardi Gras on Tuesday in Eunice.
CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader’s assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84. As a young organizer in Chicago, Jackson was called to meet with King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly before King was killed, and he publicly positioned himself thereafter as King’s successor. Santita Jackson confirmed that her father, who had a rare neurological disorder, died at home in Chicago, surrounded by family. Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues, including voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society. And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on
ä See JACKSON, page 4A
Dixie Mafia terrorized N.O., Mississippi Gulf Coast for decades Key player ran scams, ordered hits while behind bars at Angola BY POET WOLFE Staff writer
On a spring day in 1971, a shackled Kirksey Nix walked into a Louisiana courtroom with a bullet lodged in his side. Then 28, he was accused of being one of three armed intruders who forced their way into
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ued operating as a con artist, all while orchestrating a scheme The son of an Oklahoma judge, out of his jail cell that led to the the home of Frank Corso, a New Orleans grocer, setting off an Nix was more than a convicted murder of a prominent Biloxi, Easter night gunfight that left murderer. He was a key play- Mississippi, couple, Vincent Corso dead and Nix wounded er in the Dixie Mafia, a loose and Margaret Sherry, and con— the bullet too dangerous to criminal network that operated tributed to the downfall of a loremove, according to court re- across the South — including cal mayor who authorities later cords. Three years later, he and parts of the Mississippi Gulf said was entangled with the Dihis accomplices were sentenced Coast and Louisiana — from the xie Mafia. to life in prison at the Louisiana late 1960s through the 1980s. ä See DIXIE, page 7A Even behind bars, Nix continState Penitentiary at Angola.
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Kirksey Nix was a key player during the Dixie Mafia era, even operating as a con artist while behind bars. SUN HERALD FILE PHOTO
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