Young Men, Stop Gambling and Save Your Life
[gdlr_frame type=”border” align=”left” caption=”Photo Courtesy Imani Khayyam”][gdlr_image_link type=”image” image_url=”https://www.jxnpulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Shakira_Porter_Ik_web-1-200×300.jpg” link_url=”https://www.jxnpulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Shakira_Porter_Ik_web-1.jpg” alt=””][/gdlr_frame] by Shakira Porter On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, two young brothers, 16-year-old Davonza Jaron Bell and 18-year-old Donta Curry, were in Westside Park in west Jackson with a group of guys playing dice when heated tempers turned the game into gunfire. A friend from my […]
I Won’t Let My Godmother Down
by Shakira Porter Photo by Nameisha Magee My godmother Lashunda Summers made me who I am today. She is a wonderful, intelligent, hard-working woman who takes care of elderly people for a living. She often tells me how blessed I am today. She has been there for me for a good long time. She took […]
‘A Gang Fight Is a Gang Fight, Little Girl’
One cool summer evening, Amber and CJ went on a walk that took a dangerous turn resulting in a ‘gang fight’ and someone being taken to Henley Young Detention Center. After the flashing blue lights drove away, Amber was left alone wondering how things could have been different if the police were never called, and […]
‘Almost Numbing’: Mayor Tony Yarber on Growing Up Amid Violent Crime
Mayor Tony Yarber (Jackson, Miss.) reflects on how growing up amid violent crime affected his outlook on crime, poverty, friendships and drugs. Yarber uses his experiences as a way to help create opportunities for youth in Jackson. Photo by Kelsee Ford by Amber Taylor, Aja Purvis, Asia Mangum and Maisie Brown [gdlr_video url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17CRwgIBWOs” ] Tony Tarzel […]
Punched in the Gut: On Police and Distrust
Zeakyy Harrington, 17, grew up in the Washington Addition, a neighborhood west of downtown Jackson, Miss. When he was 16-years-old, one of Harrington’s friends threw up their middle finger to a cop driving by and soon after the teenagers were being punched, cuffed and taken to Henley Young Detention Center. Photo Courtesy Imani Khayyam by Zeakyy Harrington [gdlr_frame […]
‘My World’: Kenytta Brown
by Kenytta Brown Imagine a world with no problems Imagine our people picking cotton Thunder storms and dark skies Politicians and many lies There’s crime every hour Sometimes I wonder who really have the power I just want a world when people can be free Not a war to see who can control me!!! Young […]
From a War Zone to Pink Skies
Growing up is hard. Growing up and witnessing wars, police violence and people that look just like you being killed from afar on the television screen is a tough reality to navigate for a 16-year-old African America boy. Kenytta Brown sees the ugly truth in this world, but refuses to ignore the beautiful skies and […]
Staring Down the ‘Beast of White Supremacy,’ Then and Now
Four marchers who participated in the “March Against Fear” in 1966 returned to Tougaloo College to talk about black freedom, then and now. (From left: Annie Pearl Avery, Dorie Ladner, Charles McLaurin and Robert Smith) Photo Courtesty Imani Khayyam by Jordan Mahoney The rain had stopped pouring earlier on the morning of June 7, 1966. […]
Solutions to ‘Heartbreaking Violence’: How to Stop the Cycle
by Maisie Brown and Donna Ladd It was the middle of the summer, and the Westside Early Childhood Development Center was packed with little people. Children were in the halls; they were in the gym; they were in the classrooms. Adults were sprinkled in, directing and teaching curriculum such as Project Read that makes literacy […]
Regina Briggs: Advice from a Former Gang Girl
After getting kicked out of her mom’s house when she chose her new husband over her, Regina Briggs met Eric, the “general” of the Black Ganster Disciples. She was a good student and never wanted to be in a gang, but soon after was in charge of cleaning, reloading and storing weapons for them. Photo […]
