OUR VOICES: Mississippi Deputies Give State’s Law Enforcement Officers Disgrace And Shame

By James B. Ewers Jr. Ed.D.

The events you read about and hear about sometimes make you say, did that really happen? It makes you wonder out loud, that can’t be.

Our America is going through it right now. At every corner, our sensibilities are being tested and tried. Common sense has become obsolete. What have we become? That’s a good question with many answers.

We shake our heads thinking, what’s next? It’s not if anymore, it’s simply when something bad and evil will happen. Is being hopeful these days a minority view? I hope not.

I heard a man who is running to be president of this country say recently that it’s going to be a blood bath. His tone and tenor are getting worse by the day. He has obfuscated and made the landscape dangerous. His actions have empowered men and women to be mean-spirited and hate filled.

This tour of meanness and hate has spread to many states and organizations. One state that has had its share of racial hate is Mississippi. While good and great people live there, unfortunately there is a faction that is giving the Magnolia state a bad name.

Six Rankin County deputy sheriffs tortured and tormented two men for no lawful reason. The deputies were White, and the victims were Black. The officers were called the Goon Squad by some people there. They were known to apply excessive force when making arrests.

Two questions immediately come to my mind. First, was the excessive force sanctioned by the Rankin County Law Enforcement Department? Second, was race a factor when they assaulted the two African American men?

It is my opinion the officers in question were never queried about their tactics. They just did whatever they wanted to do. Rules and regulations were not followed.

I do believe race was a factor in the severe beating given to these Black men. The White officers had an overdose of hate as they took matters into their own hands. I think officers on the inside knew but said nothing.

This heinous incident started January 24th of last year. The allegation was that two Black men were staying in a house with a White woman. Assaults of varying degrees happened. Police photos when taken did not show the damage that these officers inflicted upon the two Black men, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.

Drugs were falsely planted on them to bring charges against Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Parker. Unfortunately, there are some who are charged to protect and to serve who only poison and sour. Their intentions are never good, only bad. They never worry about getting caught because those in power have already been bought.

Some in power are hamstrung by race. It is like having shackles on your legs you don’t want to take off.

There is the shackle of racism that makes you hate people be- cause of the color of their skin. There is the shackle of sexism that makes you disrespect women, and there is the shackle of intolerance that makes you opposed to other opinions and views.

U.S. District Judge Tom Lee has sentenced all six members of the Goon Squad. He said, “The officers’ actions were egregious and despicable.”

Will the Goon Squad be dis- banded? It would be too noble to believe that racism has suddenly been weeded out of the Rankin County law enforcement center. Sadly, I believe the difference this time is that the officers were caught. Will there be a next time for them to show their disapproval of African Americans?

Citizens who are Black in Rankin County should be vigilant when it comes to trusting the police. That is my opinion. This is why district, and federal judges are needed in social justice cases, especially when they involve race. Justice, sometimes at the local level, will not be served and is often delayed.

Now, Rankin County in Mississippi is in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Dr. James B. Ewers, Jr. is a long-time educator who hails from Winston Salem, N.C. One of the top tennis players in the state, he was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in January 2021. A graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, he received his M. A. degree in Education from Catholic University in Washington, DC, and Ed. D. degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. He has also done post-doctoral studies at Harvard University and Ewers is a life member of the NAACP and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.