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“We always talked politics in my house. I know you can’t do that with everyone, but we were always told, ‘This is your right; this is your opinion, and you vote how you choose—as long as you vote.’”
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— Local voting advocate, and 2020 Young Influential, Calyn Stringfellow on her family instilling in her the importance of civic responsibility. See page 12
by Nick Judin
ce eren rev
ississippi Sen. Juan Barnett, DHeidelberg, was 20 when he buried his father. Willie James Barnett was a victim of murder, a crime that unfolded on Superbowl Sunday in 1990. Barnett would not learn of the tragedy until the following Wednesday; he was 7,000 miles away in Iraq, serving in the U.S. Army in the Gulf War. What followed was the longest flight of Barnett’s life, as he returned home to grieve with his mother and his three younger siblings. “My mother lost a husband. My brothers and sister lost a father. (There was) the possibility of me having to return to my military obligations that I always promised my dad that I would do,” Barnett told the Jackson Free Press. His world changed in an instant. Then, he said, “I’m the head of my house.” Barnett spoke tenderly of missed opportunities, of reminiscing with his siblings, of going hunting with his own children as he did with his father, wishing that their grandfather was there to watch them grow. Time has done little to soothe the pain of the loss. Forgiveness has done more. “Before I began to forgive the individual, I just found myself stuck in one place … stuck in anger and bitterness,” Barnett said. He wanted extreme punishment for criminals, regardless of the crime or the context. Then, he said, God changed his heart. “I realized that the only way that I can start to heal from this is to forgive.” Barnett found that forgiveness heals victims and perpetrators alike. That’s what inspired him to push for parole reform in his new position as chairman of the Senate Corrections Committee. Reeves Vetoed Effort The centerpiece of that push is Senate Bill 2123, a bipartisan vehicle for reforms to Mississippi’s parole system. SB 2123 would roll back the clock on Mississippi’s parole system, Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons,
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
September 30 - October 13, 2020 • jfp.ms
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Forgiveness is Freedom: After Veto, Parole Reformers Fight On
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Sen. Juan Barnett, D-Heidelberg, chairman of the Senate Corrections Committee, was only 20 when his father was murdered. Over time, he exchanged hatred for forgiveness—a transformation that guides him as he pursues criminaljustice and parole reform in Mississippi. Forgiveness, he says, heals victims and perpetrators alike.
D-Greenville, explains. “Prior to the 1990s, almost all Mississippi prisoners were eligible for parole after serving 25% of their sentences, or 10
years for sentences of 30 years to life,” he wrote in a February Meridian Star article. That vanished in the 1990s era of punitive justice, when the nation’s mass
policies of incarceration exploded the national prison population to well over 1,200,000. The result is a state with the third highest incarceration rate
Mississippi Fresh Produce Availability Calendar get it while you can! September October November December Muscadines Beans, Green Beans, Pole Beans, Butter
September October November December Potatoes, Sweet (All year)
Potatoes, Sweet (Harvest)
Pumpkins
Broccoli
Squash, White
Cabbage
Squash, Winter
Cauliflower
Squash, Yellow
Greens, Collard
Squash, Zucchini Chestnuts
Greens, Mustard Greens, Turnip Okra Peas, Southern
Honey (All year) Pecans (All year Pecans (Harvest) Source: http://www.mdac.state.ms.us/publications_and_forms/publications/pdf/mkt_produceguide.pdf
