I was happy and felt privileged to acquire another manuscript earlier today for publication. Irma Rodgers Walker, a South Jackson resident is a native of Sharkey County, Mississippi in the Delta. Walker imparts mother wit treasures in her upcoming work. Irma Rodgers Walker is the author of “It Starts with the Parents,” which was published in 2013. As the eighth of 15 children, Walker learned early in life that the common sense of mothers is valuable.
Signing Day with Meredith Etc, represented by Publisher/Acquisition Editor Meredith Coleman McGee and Author Irma Rodgers Walker
The news out of Louisville is a devastating setback to everyone who has demanded accountability for the police shooting and death of Breonna Taylor.
A grand jury indicted one of the three police officers from the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) involved in the death of Breonna Taylor more than six months ago. And none of the officers were charged for killing Ms. Taylor.
He was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree for reportedly shooting into the apartment next door to Ms. Taylor’s.
The outcome of the Breonna Taylor grand jury proceedings has shocked much of the public. It has sent the message that no officers will be held accountable by the state of Kentucky for the loss of an innocent young woman’s life, a life that held so much promise, at the hands of law enforcement officers.
Yesterday’s announcement reaffirms that we need a drastic transformation in the regime of impunity that protects police officers — the regime that brought those officers to her door — and justifies their killing of innocent Black people. We need to fundamentally transform how we define and support public safety infrastructures in our country.
LDF will await the outcome of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s separate investigation and the LMPD’s internal investigation of the officers involved in Ms. Taylor’s killing. And we continue to join with over 200 national and local organizations in demanding that the U.S. Department of Justice conduct a civil rights investigation of the LMPD to determine if it has engaged in a pattern or practice of unlawful policing.
Finally, LDF filed suit in July against the City of Louisville, challenging LMPD’s unconstitutional conduct and brutality against protesters who demanded justice for Ms. Taylor during May and June of this year. Protesters were met with live ammunition, projectiles, and excessive force.
In this painful moment for the Louisville community, we call on the LMPD to exercise restraint as they engage with protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. We will continue to protect the rights of protesters in Louisville and urge local officials to do the same.
But in the meantime, Attorney General Daniel Cameron has a responsibility to the public — we deserve a full and transparent understanding of the grand jury proceedings. And we will not rest until we have one — will you add your voice to our call?
Thank you for purchasing “Nashida: Visits Mississippi’s Old Capitol Museum” by Meredith Coleman McGee. Try Volume 1. “Nashida: Visits the Smith Robertson Museum” and Volume 2 “Nashida: Visits the Mississippi State Capitol”
On September 17, 1787, a group of men gathered in a closed meeting room to sign the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution. And it was Benjamin Franklin who made the motion to sign the document in his last great speech.
First Amendment
Passed by Congress September 25, 1789. Ratified December 15, 1791. The first 10 amendments form the Bill of Rights
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Top Myths about the Constitution:
Myth one: The Constitution was written on hemp paper
The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were written on parchment. The point of debate is that some working drafts of the documents might have been composed on paper made from hemp, which was widely used in that period.
Myth two: Thomas Jefferson signed the Constitution
Thomas Jefferson didn’t sign the Constitution. This is the most popular myth at the National Constitution Center, especially when visitors enter our Signers’ Hall, comprised of statues of the Constitution’s different signers—and ask where the Jefferson statue is. In 1787, Jefferson was in Paris as the United States’ envoy, and he missed the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
Myth three: John Adams also signed the Constitution
Like Jefferson, Adams was in service for his country overseas when the Constitution was signed. He was in London as the United States minister to Great Britain.
Myth four: The same Founders who wrote the Declaration wrote the Constitution
Only six Founders signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution: George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, James Wilson, and Roger Sherman.
Myth five: The Constitution has 39 signatures
It is true that there were 39 delegate signatures on the Constitution on September 17, 1787, but the Convention’s secretary, William Jackson, also signed the document. Jackson was picked over Benjamin Franklin’s grandson as the Convention secretary.
Myth six: The Constitution says “All Men Are Created Equal”
That phrase is in the Declaration of Independence. The original Constitution punted on the issue of slavery and included provisions such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person to determine representation in Congress. However, the 13th and 14th Amendments ratified after the Civil War made the “Three-Fifths Compromise” obsolete and wrote the Declaration’s promise of equality into the Constitution.
Myth seven: An enthusiastic country quickly embraced the Constitution
After the delegates signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787, five states immediately ratified it. But then the ratification process slowed down as the Anti-Federalists, who feared a strong central government and demanded a Bill of Rights, bitterly fought the Constitution’s ratification at state conventions. It took until June 21, 1788, for New Hampshire, as the ninth state approving ratification, to make the Constitution a reality and to put it into effect.
Myth eight: The Convention delegates were unanimous in approving the document
When the Constitutional Convention ended in 1787, 42 delegates gathered at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) for the signing ceremony. Among that group, 38 delegates signed the document, with delegate George Read also signing for John Dickinson, who was ill. Three Founders—Elbridge Gerry, George Mason, and Edmund Randolph—refused to sign the Constitution, unhappy with the final document for various reasons including a lack of a Bill of Rights.
Myth nine: All 13 states took part in writing the Constitution
There were 13 states in 1787, but Rhode Island didn’t send a delegation to Philadelphia. It feared the new federal government would dominate the states and thus rejected ratification of the Constitution in 1788. Rhode Island finally approved the Constitution on May 29, 1790, by a margin of two votes.
At this hour, I mourn the loss of a woman who has been a part of my village and a mainstay in my life since I was a child. Dorothy Mays attended Jackson State College with my father and my uncle. She and my mother have been friends forever. Ms. Dorothy drove from Memphis to Jackson to see me jump the broom on September 25, 1998. She drove to Georgia year before last to attend my sister Evalyn’s wedding.
On March 10th of this year, she helped my husband and I find masks to protect us from this virus that had just hit the news. She told a lady, “I got my family with me. Can you give me two masks for them. They are getting ready to get on a plane.” The lady went over to a box grabbed two masks and handed them right over. On the 25th of March she picked my husband and I up from the Memphis airport. By them we had learned that hugging people you love was forbidden.
The previous month, on February 9, 2020, Ms. Dorothy’s brother drove her to attend the Jackson Book Festival at the Jackson Medical Mall, an event I coordinated. Her early learning material was a big hit. She was selling her wares. She spent her entire career working with early learners and elementary children. I can remember her saying, “when children are that age (5 – 6) they need to be hands on writing, coloring, and drawing.”
Ms. Dorothy also told me that the word ‘alphabet’ is plural and it needs no (s). Come to think about it, I learned a lot from her. I became interesting in early learners and increasing literacy in my community in recent years. But, Ms. Dorothy was working with early learners before I could hold a pencil. When I was young, I was so proud to see Ms. Dorothy on Television. Dorothy Mays Gibbs was the first black female television personality in Jackson, MS. She was hired by WLBT Channel 3 in July of 1972 to host Our Playmates.
Our Playmates was a 30-minute program which came on five days a week. Ms. Dorothy created the games and activities for the show. She hosted different groups of black and white children which was groundbreaking. In fact, at that time, blacks consisted of a mere 10 percent of the stations employees. Ms. Dorothy was shining like new money in 1972. She was a black woman with intellect who was connecting to an integrated group of children just one year after the State of Mississippi started complying with the 1954 Brown decision.
She was creative. She was a trendsetting. She was a mover. She was a shaker. She was a fly role model.
I admired Ms. Dorothy. Right now as I think about all the decades I’ve known Ms. Dorothy and her daughters who were our playmates I am happy to hold so many memories in my heart.
But, most of all, I am grateful because Ms. Dorothy told me, “Now, Meredith you write a book on your uncle for an adult audience.” She and mama had collaborated to write a book on my uncle for early learners. Their collaboration became, “A Story About James H. Meredith: A Civil Rights Leader (52 pages). Then mama (Hazel Janell Meredith) wrote My Brother J-Boy a 100-page illustrated children’s book on James H. Meredith.
Mama worked in early childhood in the 1960s and 70s too. She was a nutritionist. Ms. Dorothy set out to fill a gap because she felt it was important for children in the Memphis, TN school system to have access to books on James H. Meredith who broke down Jim Crow barriers on the college level. He also spurred black voter registration in the south. Mama asked me to write a summary on my uncle. After I wrote the summary, Ms. Dorothy say something that had never crossed my mind.
She said, “Meredith looks like you know quite a bit about J-Boy you write a book for an adult audience.” Her comment was not a suggestion it was a command so I replied, “Okay.”
Believe or not, from that day forward I became a student on the subject of James H. Meredith. As I conducted research my uncle became an historic figure rather than my uncle. I interviewed him, his siblings, his peers and the rest is history. After receiving 16 rejection letters, I found a commercial publisher. After the committee voted to publish my manuscript, Amazon was changing the game and Greenville Publishing merged with Praeger Publishing and ABC-CLIO which produced textbooks. I was asked to convert my manuscript from APA Style to Chicago Manual of Style.
My second book James Meredith: Warrior and the America that created him and the first book I wrote alone was placed in the textbook market and because my subject was famous my book landed in the national and international textbook market.
I owe that milestone to the lady who assisted that I write a book about her former college friend who happened to be my famous uncle. I owe a lot of gratitude to Ms. Dorothy which stems from much more than a book.
Writing this blog took the sadness away and replaced it with hope and positive reflections. To creativity! To the future. To women pushing women up. To us pushing each other up. To ending systemic racism. To economics for me and for you!
To a better world. Rest in Power Ms. Dorothy. Love you.
Dorothy Mays James and Hazel Janell Meredith (Hall) bidding farewell to Virgie Banks
The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission spied on Albert and Dorothy Gibbs. In the late 60s and early 70s the couple used their voices for our generation.
With you in solidarity,
Sherrilyn A. Ifill
Meredith Etc 