The Mississippi Governor said, “it’s a great day not to be in Jackson,” at a groundbreaking ceremony in Hattiesburg.
By Murjani Rawls
After seven weeks, a boil notice has been lifted in Jackson, Mississippi, but there are still concerns about copper and lead levels within the water supply. Unfortunately, there are still repairs going on at the city’s main water treatment facility, and it may be only a matter of time before another interruption will happen again.
Seeing what the predominately Black city was going through, you would think leaders would be sympathetic. Not in the case of Gov. Tate Reeves. As NBC WLBT 3 notes, Reeves could not have been happier to be out of the capital while speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony in Hattiesburg.
“It is a great day to be in Hattiesburg. It’s also, as always, a great day to not be in Jackson,” he said, according to local television station 16 WAPT News. “I feel like I should take off my emergency manager director hat and leave it in the car and take off my public works director hat and leave it in the car.”
It must be nice to be able to leave when you want to. The people of Jackson, especially the twenty five percent of them who live in extreme poverty, can’t do the same thing. Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley told WBLT 3 he was not surprised about what Tate said.
“At the end of the day, we pay taxes, we’re part of Mississippi, and we’re part of his state,” he said. “Whether he’s in Jackson or not, we’re part of what makes up his state.”
Reeves and Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba have been replying back and forth about who’s to blame for this mess. Reeves claimed city officials failed to give the state and federal governments a “plan to fix longstanding issues with the water system.” Lumumba then showed extensive plans in a press conference to which he says he never got a response. Maybe it would be best if Tate stayed and corrected the problem instead of making it a joke.
