OPINION: Mississippians can recognize terrorism when they see it

By Ivory Phillips

JA Contributing Editor

Last month, during a press conference dealing with the idea of redistricting the state of Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves referred to Congressman Bennie Thompson’s tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives as, “a reign of terror.” Anyone even the least bit familiar with government or political science realizes how ignorant or uninformed the statement was. 

First of all, Thompson has never been in an executive or administrative position with the power to control circumstances or rule a body of people, let alone a state or society of people. Secondly, the kind of actions taken by Thompson as one member of the 435 members of the House can in no way be described as terrorism.

What Reeves was doing was engaging in the kind of rhetoric frequently engaged in by President Trump and the kind of rhetoric designed to generate opposition against and ill-will toward Thompson and the things for which he has stood. It is telling and it is detrimental to groups of people and to society as a whole, especially to Mississippi. For those reasons, rather than simply write Reeves off, one would be wise to consider what things Thompson has stood for and championed that raised the dander of Reeves and his crowd.

Over the years, since his arrival in 1993, Thompson has been a 100% bona fide supporter of affordable healthcare. This has included helping to sponsor and voting for the Affordable Care Act. He has repeatably sponsored bills to expand Medicaid, to lower the cost of prescription drugs and health insurance, and to provide assistance to rural hospitals. 

The same type of effort has gone into legislation to provide funds for infrastructural maintenance and improvements. This includes roads, bridges, and airports, as well as water and sewage systems. 

Thompson’s support in the field of education has included, among other things, funding for Headstart programs, increased funding for Black colleges, and for the civil rights protection of minority students and institutions. 

He has championed economic assistance bills to aid farmers, to help feed and house the needy, especially through the rolling-back of tax cuts to the wealthy. 

Finally, he has been in the forefront in championing bills to protect and advance voting rights, as well as the rights of immigrants and those wrongfully accused and incarcerated.

More than any other member of the Mississippi delegation, Thompson has been there for working class people and for the advocates of a democratic government. Reeves’ attack on Thompson’s record shows Reeves’ preferences and priorities are at total odds with Thompson, with those of both Black and white working class people and with people who believe in truly democratic political and economic principles.

What Reeves was also doing in his attempt to smear Thompson was revealing the symmetry between what has been reflected by the Republican-dominated Mississippi legislature and the Trump-driven federal administration. Republicans in Congress have stood in opposition to virtually everything supported by Thompson. The things that became law did so when the Democrats were in charge. Simultaneously, the Mississippi legislature has stood in opposition to what generally has been supported by Thompson. (Members of the Republican Party have sometimes claimed credit for what Thompson and the Democrats have done, as in the case of the infrastructure bill after it was passed and proved to be very popular.)

Therefore, there has been no reign of terror. There has been, instead, a breath of democratic fresh air in the person of Bennie Thompson. Because he has thus stood out and thereby sometimes stood in their way, Tate Reeves, Donald Trump, and others of that ilk, want to get rid of Thompson through re-districting. In order to pull it off, however, they feel the need to try to paint his efforts as a brand of terrorism, thereby winning support from uninformed voters.

The double irony in the matter is: (1) their belief that Mississippians, Black and white, will buy into the idea that what Thompson has been doing over the years amounts to terrorism; and (2) their belief they can disguise the fact this is anything other than classical projectionism. In this instance, supporters of White Supremacy desire to eliminate Thompson and other Black officials from office so they will then be in a better position to implement elements of their own measures of terrorism, such as existed during the era of unrivaled Jim Crow.

Just as Thompson skillfully and courageously led the investigation and revealed the treasonous deeds of Trump and the January 6th rioters, Black and working-class people must clearly recognize the scheme of Tate Reeves and what could be lost in the process if they are followed. Not only that, it requires, in every nook and cranny and with every resource available, the people engaging in the struggle, with no surrender because “when we fight, we win.”