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A nonprofit group formed by a key supporter of Mayor John Horhn will help pay for public safety initiatives, including support for senior police officers, under an agreement approved by the City Council. 

Jackson Rising made a donation to the city after a dispute over an employment contract Horhn proposed that would have given Jackson’s new police chief, RaShall Brackney, benefits not typically received by city department heads. 

After some council members voiced concerns during an unrecorded meeting in April, Horhn pulled the contract. The mayor vowed to find philanthropic funding for Brackney’s benefits, including severance if she is let go without cause after her first year, up to $15,000 in moving expenses and a 90-day rental stipend of $1,000. 

The City Council last week narrowly approved the agreement with Jackson Rising. The group was recently formed by attorney and former Hinds County Circuit Judge Robert Gibbs, who chaired Horhn’s mayoral transition team in 2025. It has agreed to donate up to $100,000 to an account controlled by the mayor. 

Documents submitted to the City Council did not specifically name the police chief but said the money can be used to recruit and retain senior officers, including “employment-related expenditures.” 

Gibbs did not respond to Mississippi Today’s requests for comment. Nic Lott, the city’s communications director, did not respond to the news outlet’s questions but sent a response the city had provided to WLBT. 

“This development arose organically through interactions the Mayor had with supporters and community leaders,” Lott wrote. “Citizens want to know what they can do to help.” 

The donor agreement is not the first time private donors in Jackson have supported local law enforcement. 

Meet the Hundred Club of Jackson  

Each year, the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department, the Jackson Police Department, Capitol Police and city firefighters are honored at a black-tie banquet hosted by the nonprofit Hundred Club of Jackson. 

The club is primarily supported by dues-paying local businesspeople. It was founded in 1961 by “to use the old-fashioned term, ‘captains of industry,’” said Doug Boone, president of the club’s board of directors. 

“We’ve really flown under the radar most of that time,” he said, adding similar clubs exist across the country. 

In the beginning, the club offered $10,000 life insurance policies for officers, Boone said. Over the decades, that assistance morphed into providing direct financial support for families of officers killed on duty. 

“We call ourselves financial first responders,” Boone said. 

The club has also sporadically helped local police agencies with projects, including donating $25,000 to refurbish MetroOne, a helicopter used by law enforcement agencies across central Mississippi. 

Recently, Boone said the club took over the finances of another nonprofit, the Jackson Police Foundation. Boone said the foundation had long offered opportunities for people to donate equipment or money to police for backpack drives, JPD’s Christmas toy drive or other initiatives that are often “the first casualty of any kind of budget tightening.” 

“Somebody wanted to donate some money so the sheriff’s department could buy some feed for their horses for their mounted unit,” he said. 

Would the club donate to support the police chief’s benefits? Boone said his 12-member board would have to think on it. But, he added, the club has been contemplating ways to use its resources to support Jackson’s entire police department – and help sustain the new energy Boone believes Horhn has brought to the city.

“Put it this way,” he said. “Nobody’s come and asked us yet.”

How would the agreement work?  

While the Hundred Club of Jackson sometimes reimburses local agencies for requests, Jackson Rising is making a direct donation to the city. 

Once the city takes control of the donation, the agreement says the money would become public dollars, subject to Mississippi’s transparency laws. Jackson Rising has agreed to donate an initial $50,000, according to the agreement, as well as pursue an additional $50,000. 

“Donor shall have no authority to direct personnel decisions, compensation decisions, promotions, discipline or law-enforcement operations,” the agreement says. 

To that end, the agreement also says the money is not “earmarked” for a specific employee and that Jackson Rising shall not have “control” over recipients. But the donation can be used for executive recruitment efforts, retention initiatives and “relocation or transition assistance” — spending areas that WLBT first reported overlap with Brackney’s proposed employment contract. 

At a May 18 meeting, the day before the council approved the contract, Ward 1 Council Member Ashby Foote asked how the city was going to determine which senior officers would receive benefits. 

“Is the city council out of the loop, in the loop?” he asked. 

In response, Pieter Teeuwissen, the city’s chief administrative officer, said he’d had several conversations with Jackson Rising and the city attorney, Drew Martin. Everyone was comfortable the contract was “not going to blow up on anyone.” 

“It’s perhaps a narrow path or a narrow needle to thread, but it is a doable one,” Teeuwissen said.

He added that he thought Jackson Rising would indicate “who it intended to support” and that a council vote wasn’t necessary, even though the contract states the donor “shall not” select recipients. 

“We’ve tried to be transparent from this administration, and I would encourage us to continue to be transparent if we get to a point where Jackson Rising is supporting any of our senior officers,” he said. “Nobody wants to find that out some other way.” 

Asked about this comment on Thursday, Teeuwissen said he misspoke and that “documents speak for themselves.” 

Why did some council members vote no? 

Teeuwissen previously told Mississippi Today that Brackney was the only department head to request an employment contract. 

The proposed contract included benefits similar to ones Brackney received when she was police chief in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to documents reviewed by Mississippi Today — professional development support, a three-month housing stipend and moving expenses. 

As she left City Hall after Tuesday’s council meeting, Brackney said she wasn’t aware of the new agreement. She was followed by her new chief of staff, Tonya Norwood, a former community engagement specialist with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. 

“I don’t know what the Jackson Rising proposal is,” Brackney said. “I have not seen that.” 

If the city uses Jackson Rising’s donation to support Brackney’s relocation expenses, she would be the only department head to receive such a benefit under Horhn’s nearly year-old administration, according to information provided through a public records request. 

The exceptional treatment is the reason Ward 2 Council Member Tina Clay said she voted against the agreement with Jackson Rising. She was joined by Ward 4 Council Member Brian Grizzell, but neither offered an explanation for their votes during Tuesday’s meeting. 

Clay told Mississippi Today she thought the agreement sent the message that police matter more than other city departments.

“Don’t put that police department out there on a pedestal by itself,” she said. 

The Jackson Rising donation could be a model for future private support of Horhn’s goals for the city. 

“There are folks who want to donate to support various causes while not wanting to necessarily donate directly to the government,” Teeuwissen said at the May 18 meeting, noting the nonprofit shares a name with the series of community conversations that Horhn tasked several campaign supporters with convening last year. 

The discussions yielded a list of ideas that could be supported by public-private partnerships, including an effort to bring a Texas consultant to Jackson to help the city reduce homelessness. 

Downtown Jackson Partners, the organization managing the downtown business improvement district, is helping Horhn pursue donations for that contract. 

FORREST COUNTY — Some Mississippi minors accused of firearm-related crimes will be sent to adult circuit court instead of youth court under a new law that also increases penalties for stolen-gun offenses. 

Senate Bill 2710 takes effect July 1. It increases penalties for possessing, selling or transferring stolen firearms, especially if those guns are later used in violent crimes. 

State Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, said the bill was developed after law enforcement agencies and local leaders raised concerns about youth violence involving firearms. 

READ ALSO: ‘We’ve got to try something different’” Anti-gang bill could put more children in prison

“That was their priority for this legislative session … was to try to figure out a way to curb or try to restrict the amount of increase in youthful violence as it relates to use of deadly weapons,” Fillingane said. 

Mississippi continues to report one of the highest firearm death rates in the country. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state’s firearm death rate was about 29.4 deaths per 100,000 residents. About 810 deaths in Mississippi were due to firearms in 2024.

What Senate Bill 2710 changes 

Senate Bill 2710 moves certain firearm-related cases involving minors from youth court to circuit court. Those cases include violent crimes, possession or trafficking of stolen firearms, drive-by shootings or other firearm crimes, and illegal firearm possession tied to felonies. 

Fillingane said the bill also strengthens penalties for people who possess, sell or transfer stolen guns, or traffic multiple stolen firearms. 

“The days of allowing young people — underage folks — to get away with very violent crimes using deadly weapons in Mississippi has ended. We are no longer going to tolerate anybody, whether you’re over 21 or under 21,” Fillingane said.

The law also makes it a crime to intentionally discharge a firearm into a group of two or more people, even if no one is injured. 

Penalties include up to five years in prison for a first stolen-firearm conviction; at least 15 years for repeat stolen-firearm offenses or possession of multiple stolen firearms; 10 to 20 years for transferring a stolen firearm to a minor; and up to 40 years if a stolen firearm is later used in attempted murder, murder, capital murder or child homicide. 

People convicted of shooting into a group could face five to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. Cases involving minors, schools, churches, parks, gangs or terrorist organizations could carry up to 30 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. 

Local retailer raises theft concerns 

Matt Pelham, general manager of The Lead Dispensary in Hattiesburg, said the store experienced an attempted robbery on May 3 involving four teenagers who vandalized a window. 

Although tougher penalties may help, Pelham said security remains the store’s first line of defense. 

“It’s more our responsibility to keep it out of the most capable thief’s hands,” Pelham said. “So really the front line of defense is our security which obviously it helped a lot because those kids didn’t even try to get through the window.” 

Pelham and Fillingane said many stolen firearms are taken from unsecured vehicles overnight and later used in crimes. 

“The number one place where stolen firearms are stolen from and wind up in the criminal’s hands is from people’s personal vehicles overnight,” Fillingane said. 

Pelham said some gangs use minors to steal firearms because juveniles often face lighter punishment. 

“Gang initiations can include sending children in to steal firearms because their punishment is less severe than if the adults were to go do it themselves,” Pelham added. 

Store employees said guns are placed in vaults and removed from display after hours to deter theft. Pelham said he believes stricter gun laws could help reduce robberies and other violent crimes. 

Gun safety and prevention

While Senate Bill 2710 focuses on penalties, firearm retailers also emphasized safe storage and firearms education. 

“I’ve heard of accidental shootings. Children usually, because they’re curious. That’s why I say teach your children, you know, because you don’t want them to be curious, and that’s how accidents happen,” Pawn Shop Plus employee Amanda Pool said. 

Pool said guns should be stored in a safe at home and kept away from teenagers and children. 

“I also suggest taking them to shoot with you and teaching them,” Pool said. “Because if they know what it does and the sound of it, they’re less likely to want to mess with it.” 

State leaders and local firearms retailers said Senate Bill 2710 is meant to reduce violent crime and increase accountability for firearm-related offenses involving minors and stolen guns.

Gov. Tate Reeves has released the Mississippi Statewide AI Framework, a document that outlines the state’s priorities with artificial intelligence and provides guidance to help Mississippians of all ages learn about and prepare for the AI economy.

The document focuses on four priorities and 11 skills centered around AI literacy and accessibility, ethical use, privacy and workforce readiness in alignment with other state efforts. It provides a sweeping overview for AI skills and understanding for those from elementary school age to people well into their careers. 

READ MORE: Mississippi lawmakers are looking to regulate AI after the technology is misused

Citing AI’s rapid evolution, the document says, “it is not legislation, a requirement or a mandate. Rather, it serves as a strategic point of alignment and leadership-oriented guide.” It says the document will be updated as technology develops.

“This is about more than technology — it’s about people,” said Courtney Taylor, executive director of AccelerateMS, the state’s workforce development office.

The 27-page document was created by the AI Workforce Readiness Council along with AccelerateMS and the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network, or MAIN. The council was established last year as part of the Mississippi AI Talent Accelerator Program, which also gave out over $9 million in grants to Mississippi colleges and universities to expand their AI education programs. 

Statewide, Mississippi departments and legislators are already exploring how to use AI and what policies are needed to regulate it. Last year, the Mississippi Department of Education launched a pilot program for teachers to use AI to help with lesson planning and the Department of Information Technology Services issued guidance on AI use in state government. 

With the growing adoption of AI and concerns about safety, all 50 states have introduced legislation over the last few years on issues including education and criminal use of AI.   

During the recent session, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill defining AI and considered another that would have created more protections for Mississippians from AI misuse. The state already has laws around using deepfakes in political campaigns and classifying AI images of children as child exploitation.

The Department of Justice is considering intervening in the NAACP’s lawsuit against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company over its operation of natural gas turbines in Southaven. 

The DOJ has until June 15 to intervene.

The federal government’s interest comes as xAI considers going public this summer.

Last summer, xAI began bringing generators to Mississippi to power its data center operations in the area using temporary mobile turbines. Mississippi does not require air permits for mobile turbines that run for less than 12 months. But the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is representing the NAACP, alleges that running the turbines without a permit violates the federal Clean Air Act. 

The lawsuit asks the court to stop xAI’s turbine operations and to fine the company for its previous operations.

xAI has maintained the turbines are not a violation of the Clean Air Act. 

In documents filed in the Northern District of Mississippi earlier this month, the DOJ wrote it is “evaluating potential intervention” in the lawsuit and asked the court to give it more time to evaluate the case. 

The DOJ said it is interested in the case as it pertains to U.S. policies, citing the Clean Air Act and President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order protecting U.S. dominance in the AI sector. 

“It is the policy of the United States to sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security,” the DOJ wrote in court filings. The department added that “artificial intelligence infrastructure” is a key priority for the U.S.

xAI’s method of self generating energy has allowed it to quickly scale up its data center operations in Southaven and Memphis. In SEC filings published this month, the company cited its “ability to construct power infrastructure at this scale and speed as a significant competitive advantage.” 

Southaven residents who live close to the turbines have complained about the noise coming from the turbines and potential environmental impact to the area’s aquifer and air quality. xAI constructed a sound barrier around the turbines but residents say that it has had little impact. 

xAI has continued to increase power generation on site, with over 40 mobile turbines now on site, up from 18 last summer. In addition, the company is working to bring permanent turbines on site. Earlier this year, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality approved air permits for 41 permanent turbines at the site. 

On Thursday, the court granted xAI an extension until June 15 to respond or file a motion to dismiss the suit. It gave the DOJ the same deadline to decide whether it will try to intervene in the case.

The Southern Environmental Law Center declined to comment on the litigation. 

By J.P. Morgan Wealth Management

Business owners often have a million things to juggle with day-to-day operations. Have you taken the time to slow down and think about what you can be doing now to prepare yourself and your business for later in life? If the answer is no, you aren’t alone. Although 76% of business owners plan to transition over the next 10 years, only 35% of businesses have a formalized succession plan in place.

You’ve worked hard to grow your business, so it’s important to think about what will happen when you want to move on from the company – whether that’s retirement, selling the business or trying something new. Thoughtful planning in advance can help give business owners peace of mind knowing that both you and your business will be cared for in retirement. A plan can also ensure your employees are cared for and, if you choose, allow your business to continue serving the local community.

Here are some tips for business owners to consider:

Having a plan is key

Planning ahead can help give you peace of mind and avoid unnecessary stress in the future. Everyone’s situation is unique, so make sure your plan incorporates your personal needs and desires. A financial advisor can be a helpful partner in putting together your plan. They can also identify how you can work towards your personal and retirement goals, separate from equity you may have in your business.

Also consider working with an estate planning attorney to help incorporate your business into your estate plan. A basic estate plan for most business owners should include: a revocable trust, a will, a financial power of attorney, a health care power of attorney and beneficiary designations. Make sure to review these documents periodically with your attorney to ensure they still reflect your wishes.

Build a trusted team

Assembling a team of trusted professionals can play a big role in making sure your preferences are honored after you transition away from the business. They can also help evaluate the value of your business, which can be important to know in the succession planning process.

Consider including your financial advisor, certified public accountant, business and estate planning attorney, insurance advisors, business valuation professional, investment bankers and/or business brokers. Spending time, effort and money now to build a team of people you trust can help drive more favorable outcomes in the end.  

Don’t forget about your own retirement

When it comes to investing for retirement, the sooner the better – whether you are a business owner or not. Starting with investing now can give your money more time to potentially grow.

If you don’t have a company-funded 401(k), there are other retirement planning options for business owners to consider, like an IRA or solo 401(k). Make sure to consult your tax advisor, as they can help you understand the tax implications of each option and identify which one may be right for you.

Securing your legacy

Taking the time now to thoughtfully plan for your retirement as a business owner may seem daunting, but it can help ensure peace of mind later in life. There’s a lot to consider, so staying informed is key. If you’re looking for more resources in your financial journey as a business owner, visit our library of free educational content at chase.com/theknow.  

JPMorgan Chase & Co., its affiliates, and employees do not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any financial transaction.  

J.P. Morgan Wealth Management is a business of JPMorgan Chase & Co., which offers investment products and services through J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (JPMS), a registered broker-dealer and investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC. 

Mississippi residents who want to earn an associate degree or professional credential at one of the state’s community colleges could get some financial help through a new program. 

In April, Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law House Bill 562, which establishes the UPSKILL (Upgrading Priority Skills for Key Industry Learning and Labor) Mississippi Grant program. The program, which would start as a pilot, will provide last-dollar scholarships to eligible adults who are 24 or older and seeking job training to earn a living wage. 

The state Financial Aid Office will oversee the grants, which will cover the remaining balance after a student’s other financial aid and scholarships are applied. To participate in the program, students must be Mississippi residents for at least two years. 

UPSKILL would also provide eligible students with a $500 annual stipend for books and other materials. 

Additional details of the program’s costs and funding source are still being ironed out, said Courtney Taylor, executive director of AccelerateMS, the state’s workforce agency. The aim is to launch in January. 

The Legislature also approved other money to launch a separate pilot program for residents who are in recovery from opioid addiction. The state has allocated $1 million in opioid settlement funds for the program, which is set to launch this summer. It presents an opportunity for people in recovery to find a holistic program with wraparound services, not just providing community college courses, Taylor said. 

The average costs of tuition for community colleges vary across the state. For example, Hinds Community College tuition and fees can range between $3,700 to $4,300, according to the college’s website. At Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, tuition and fees start at $4,200, according to the college’s cost of attendance website. 

The UPSKILL program is a state workforce investment to help meet the demand for high-priority careers and industries, said Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford who authored and championed the bill. The program also creates an opportunity for residents who have few resources or outside support to return to college or earn a degree, Boyd said. 

“It truly puts people on a real path to a high-skill, high-paying job and limits the debt they have to get there,” said Boyd, who is also chairwoman of the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee. The program is “targeted, it’s accountable and ties directly to jobs that Mississippi employers are trying to fill right now.” 

The bill’s passage stems from a months-long effort from lawmakers and higher education officials to encourage more Mississippians to earn a college degree or career credential to boost the state’s workforce and economy. About 12% of Mississippi residents have some college experience but no degree, according to the National Student Clearing House Research Center.

AccelerateMS is set to fund the pilot program from its operating budget and determine what academic programs and courses are eligible based on identified priority occupations. These courses will tie to careers or industries that pay at least $20 an hour, Taylor said. 

It is unclear what those programs will be and how much money will be needed to launch this program, Taylor said.

The pilot program will also offer support services, or a one-stop shop for students to work with an adviser or success coach at the community colleges. The coaches will help students navigate the program’s course enrollment process and apply for financial aid and will support them with career planning. 

UPSKILL seems designed to ensure students complete the program and succeed in landing a job, said Michelle Miller-Adams, a senior researcher at the UpJohn Institute who studies tuition-free college programs. Having career coaches or “navigators” is a best practice for supporting students and families, Miller-Adams said. 

Such provisions are “not always necessarily included in the final legislation for statewide promise programs,” Miller-Adams said. “So good job, whoever wrote it.” 

Students eligible for UPSKILL could also receive a $250 emergency aid stipend each semester for things like childcare stipends, bus vouchers  or gas cards. While not a lot of money, the stipends are important for people who have other financial barriers and challenges to completing their degree, Miller-Adams said. 

Requiring specific courses for scholarship eligibility may pose a challenge for students and colleges, Miller-Adams said. Those restrictions could also make it difficult to track data when a student switches careers or courses of study, creating administrative burdens. 

“I think the big lessons officials can apply are that simplicity will help you get people into the program,” Miller-Adams said, “and the support elements will help you ensure that the people in the program are successful.”

Many Mississippi politicians have been afflicted in recent days with TDS – not Trump Derangement Syndrome, as President Donald Trump accuses his own critics of having, but a special Mississippi condition that can be called Thompson Derangement Syndrome.

Many seem obsessed with 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the lone Democrat and only Black member of the state’s congressional delegation.

The Mississippi politicians seem  particularly obsessed with removing Thompson from office and believe they have the opportunity to do so thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Louisiana v. Callais decision that gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Many Southern states’ politicians are interpreting the Callais ruling as giving them permission to gerrymander political districts to prevent majority-Black districts. Thus far, the courts are saying that interpretation is all right.

Classic TDS symptoms

The most apparent symptom of TDS is the extensive use of social media to talk about Thompson, who served as Bolton mayor and Hinds County supervisor before winning a congressional seat in 1993.

State Auditor Shad White displays many of the classic TDS symptoms.

On social media, White, who presumably is busy as state auditor, has posted more than 20 times in recent days about how the Mississippi Legislature should eliminate Thompson’s district.

“Every Republican statewide and member of Congress in Mississippi — not just me, alone — should be calling to end the district gerrymandered to protect Bennie Thompson. We should all be singing from the same hymnal,” White wrote in one post.

White and others want to ensure that not a single one of the four Mississippi congressional districts has a Black majority even though the African American population of the state is nearly 40%, according to the 2020 U.S. Census, and is likely to be higher in the next official count in 2030.

Another apparent sufferer of TDS is state Sen. Kevin Blackwell of DeSoto County. He also is fond of talking about Thompson and does so often.

Blackwell posted on social media, “The J6 chairman can scream and fight all he wants, but the days of his liberal agenda and revenge tour against President Trump are coming to an end. It’s time to red-pill Mississippi and wipe out that gerrymandered seat once and for all.”

TDS sufferers seem particularly agitated by the fact that Thompson chaired a special House Committee looking into the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the nation’s Capitol that included violence against police officers, destruction of property, the threat to hang Vice President Mike Pence and multiple other infractions such as smearing human waste in Capitol offices. Thompson was appointed to chair the special panel because he headed up the powerful House Homeland Security Committee.

Often TDS sufferers are upset by social media photographs of rocks in the sand (86, 47), such as those displayed by former FBI Director James Comey and University of Mississippi sociology professor James “J.T.” Thomas advocating, they say, that President Donald Trump be removed from office. But the TDS suffers are OK with threats against the vice president made as a hangman’s noose dangled in the background. 

TDS is spreading across the nation. Even the president has TDS and has threatened not only to erase Thompson’s district, but also to throw him in jail.

Perhaps the most notable sufferer of TDS is Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves. He has a bad case.

A reign of terror?

The governor wrote, that Thompson’s “reign of terror on MS-2 (congressional district) is over. It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.” 

Regardless of what one thinks of Thompson, he has been elected and reelected for decades by a clear majority of the 2nd District that comprises one quarter of the state’s population. The people in the district have the right to vote for whomever they want just as all Americans, regardless of race, have that right.

How does the democratic election of Thompson constitute a reign of terror?

Has he imposed physical violence on his constituents?

Were his constituents not allowed to vote for the candidate of their choice?

Are Thompson’s constituents cowering in their homes because of his reign of terror? The governor should explain, or perhaps he deserves a little grace because of his Thompson Derangement Syndrome.

Thompson, like the politicians afflicted with TDS, is a lifelong Mississippian. He has lived through terrible racism as a young man in the ’60s. He fought for civil rights and his own rights when the white power structure refused to seat him after he won a post in the city government of Bolton.

Yet, he still lives in Mississippi where he hunts, goes to church and is part of the community.

Thompson, after all, is limited in his power. He is one of 435 members of the U.S. House and a member of the minority party from the poorest state in the country.

Yet, he apparently has the ability to create a derangement syndrome that impacts many Mississippi politicians.

Olin Pickens, 104, recalled one of the worst moments of his time as a prisoner of war during World War II.

Pickens said his company lost 75 men in what he called a “suicide mission” to establish forward positions to slow down the Germans’ advance in north Africa. Throughout the night, German soldiers fired flares trying to locate American soldiers. 

Pickens crawled through the flares using his uniform as camouflage in the sand until he found a slit trench. He covered himself in a cactus brush and hid there until a local Arabic man found him the next morning. The man motioned for Pickens to stay down and left.

“My heart calmed down,” he said. 

“I thought, ‘Well, he’s going to bring me water and food and tonight I’m going to get up and go again.’”

Instead, the man returned with a squad of German soldiers, their rifles drawn. 

One of them made Pickens stand up. He motioned for Pickens to take his gun and asked in English whether Pickens wanted to shoot him or the Arabic man. Pickens grabbed the rifle, wanting to kill the man who turned him in, but gave up when the other German soldiers pointed their guns at him. 

Pickens spent the next 26 months as a prisoner of war.

On Sunday, the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington, D.C., will honor Pickens and several other veterans on stage. He shared his story of survival recently with Mississippi Today.

Before the war, Pickens lived with his family in Blue Mountain, a small town in Tippah County in North Mississippi. He volunteered for the Army in 1942. He was assigned to the communications section as a rifleman in the 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion in North Africa. 

His time as German prisoner

Upon his capture, German soldiers forced Pickens and other POWs to walk to Tunis. If they fell out of line or tried to escape, they’d be shot and killed. They would walk for four hours and take 10 minute breaks. 

The walk lasted from Tuesday until Saturday, and in that time the POWs drank water only three times and ate only one cup of sauerkraut soup. During the march Pickens had another traumatic experience.

“One of the boys in front of me just fell flat on his face. I reached down and called his name and tried to pick him up, and I said, ‘Let’s go, they’ll shoot you.’” he recalled. 

“He was out. He was completely out. This German on the right, one of the guards, pointed his gun at us and motioned with it ‘go on.’ And I had to turn him loose, and that bothers me today.”

When they reached Tunis, the 16 POWs had to share one loaf of bread and about a pound of corned beef hash. They also gorged themselves on water from a horse trough. They slept in horse stables.

After a few days, their captors transported them to a prison camp in Naples, then they were shipped by train to a prison camp in Nazi Germany. They all went to different places, and Pickens went to Stalag 3B.

By this time, Pickens had been in captivity for 30 days and lost a third of his body weight. He chose to go to a labor camp for the promise of better food and light work, even though he knew it was a lie. The work was near-constant and grueling, and he lived on a starvation diet.

After about a year, Pickens and a fellow prisoner escaped.

“If we die, if we got caught down the line somewhere when we were escaping, it wouldn’t be any worse than dying in that slave camp,” he said.

They made it to Czechoslovakia, but were quickly recaptured. The escapees were interrogated, stripped down to their underwear and put into a smokehouse with metal bars for a few days. At night, they took turns sitting in each other’s laps and draping over each other to stay warm. 

The next morning, a woman who lived nearby brought them food and clothes, and her son brought them water. Some women from the village came by. Pickens said they were very friendly and asked them questions about life in the United States.

“The first question they’d always, always ask, ‘is everybody in the United States gangsters?’” he said. He told them no.

A guard took Pickens and his comrade out of town. After an interrogation, they were placed in solitary confinement. 

“He thought he was putting me in there by myself, but I wasn’t in there by myself,” he said. 

“Jesus went in right ahead of me, and he was with me at all times and still is.”

Pickens said the Devil tried to convince him to lay down and die, but Jesus reminded him that he promised his parents he would come back home. He said the Devil left after that and didn’t return. 

Pickens used an aluminum pitcher to scratch marks on the wall for each day — 21 days total. After he got out, some of his fellow prisoners shared their bread with him until he regained his strength.

His return home

In January, they were forced to move to a different prison camp to outrun the Russian Red Army. Despite this, Russian forces liberated the camp on April 9. Pickens finally left on April 21, 1945. 

He was flown to Camp Lucky Strike in La Harve, France. He and other POWs were covered in lice from sleeping on straw. He had to shower in DDT, an insecticide, and his old uniform was burned and replaced.

Before the Army sent him home, they put him on a 30-day eggnog diet to gain weight. After 30 days, he went from weighing 120 pounds to 150 pounds.

On his journey home, he saw the lit up Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. He claims the statue spoke a unique message to every person on the ship. 

“‘Welcome home son, well done.’ That’s what it said to me,” he said.

When he made it back to Blue Mountain, neighbors swarmed the bus he was on, praising him and offering him rides home. He chose to walk home with a neighbor. The neighbor had lost a son in the Battle of the Bulge. 

Pickens finally made it home. As he tearfully embraced his family, he glanced over and saw the neighbor crying over his own son.

He told his mother, “As bad as it was, Jesus never let me suffer more than I could stand.” 

“And as bad as it was, we would do it again for our freedom.”

Pickens was told he didn’t have enough points to be discharged. Instead, the Army sent him to Miami Beach for “R&R” and then to Fort Lewis, Washington. He and the 65 other former POWs sent there refused to work and wrote to a U.S. senator for help. The Army finally discharged them after the senator reached out.

After his service, Pickens took advantage of the GI Bill. He owned a service station, worked in a factory and drove a freight car. He also got help from a psychiatrist for post-traumatic stress disorder.

After retiring, he enjoyed hobbies such as traveling with his wife, who passed away in 2005. He has two sons, a grandson and a great grandson. 

Pickens began sharing his story with audiences in the 1980s. He said he’s told his story about 116 times across the South, and leaves a DVD with his story at each place he speaks. 

He is part of an interactive oral history exhibit at the National World War II Museum called Voices from the Front.

“Whatever situation you’re in, accept it if you can’t fix it,” he said. It’s advice he says has helped him throughout his life since returning home.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said Republicans are trying to turn back the clock on voting rights in Mississippi and vowed that the national party won’t write off the red state as he headlined a fundraiser in Jackson on Friday.

Martin’s appearance in Jackson comes one day after he released the DNC’s 2024 election autopsy, a move that came after months of pressure. Martin has faced intense backlash for his handling of the autopsy, with some Democratic members of Congress calling for his resignation.

There was no mention of the autopsy in Martin’s remarks, as he instead drew attention to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act and efforts by Republicans across the South to redraw electoral districts to weaken Black voting strength.

“We’re in a moment right now in this country, thanks to the Callais decision brought forward by Republicans, brought forward by the conservative movement which has been fighting tooth and nail ever since President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law to dismantle civil rights, to dismantle voting rights, to take us back to the Jim Crow era,” Martin said. “When you elect bad people into office, here we are in this moment right now.”

Martin was in Jackson for the Hamer-Winter Dinner, an annual gathering honoring the legacy of former Democratic governor William Winter and Civil Rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. The event brings together Democratic activists, elected officials, donors and community leaders from across the state, party leaders said.

Martin was joined by DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, a former Pennsylvania state lawmaker, who said national party leaders would not ignore Mississippi despite the Republican dominance of the state’s government.

“There are a lot of people, particularly in the Beltway, who don’t understand why the chair and vice chair of the Democratic Party are in Mississippi,” Kenyatta said. “We’re going to continue to be a party that doesn’t just talk about the South, but shows up in the South.”

The event was hosted by social media personality Brett “Papa Mississippi” Kenyon and Comedian Rita Brent, who in January interviewed Kamala Harris at the Jackson stop of the former vice president’s book tour. State party leaders said the appearance of the national Democratic leaders underscores a message that no state is written off, even bright-red Mississippi, as Democrats aim to find new pockets of support ahead of the federal midterm elections this fall.

“People didn’t believe that Mississippi needed investment,” said state Rep. Cheikh Taylor, chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party. “But Chairman Ken Martin did, and he sent out marching orders to the rest of the DNC to invest in Mississippi.”

The Callais ruling places Mississippi and other Southern states at the center of a national partisan and racial battle over redistricting, a fight that will unfold as the DNC aims to help Democrats reclaim majorities in Congress in November’s midterm election.

On Wednesday, thousands of people gathered in Jackson to protest those efforts and mobilize people to vote in November.

Democrats hold only one of six seats in the state’s congressional delegation. Republicans have left little doubt that they intend at some point in the coming years to redraw Mississippi’s congressional district maps to oust Rep. Bennie Thompson, the state’s lone Democrat and lone Black member of Congress.

Thompson was in attendance on Friday night, seated at Martin’s table.

Thompson, 78, reflected on his long tenure and referenced a famous line in “The Godfather,” as he promised to make Democrats “an offer they can’t refuse” to beat Republicans this November.

“It’s been a long journey, and I’ve seen a lot,” Thompson said. “At some point, you make folks mad. This state didn’t get on the bottom by itself. We had leaders who just did not give a tinker’s damn about the majority of the people in this state. So we have to do better. I’m in it to win it. I don’t care what it is. I was called a terrorist two weeks ago, and now I’m a godfather.”

In a radio interview last week, Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Thompson’s “reign of terror” was coming to an end.

Other Democratic power players in the room included Patrick Gaspard, who served as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa during the Obama administration, Jackson Mayor John Horhn and state legislative Democratic Leaders Rep. Robert Johnson and Sen. Derrick Simmons.

Horhn said he met with Martin earlier that day, and they discussed the need to increase voter turnout in Mississippi and craft a message that went beyond bashing Republicans. State Rep. Justis Gibbs of Jackson, who introduced some of the party’s congressional nominees, said running campaigns that inspire younger voters was key to Democrats’ future.

Scott Colom, the party’s nominee for this year’s U.S. Senate race, delivered remarks, as did three of the party’s nominees for U.S. House: Cliff Johnson, Michael Chiaradio and Jeffrey Hulum. They criticized President Trump’s agenda and said its unpopularity would make it easier for them to win.

In his remarks, Martin said the national Democratic Party needed to do a better job of delivering on its campaign promises and showing up in places such as Mississippi more than every two years during federal elections.

“I want to tell you right now that the reason I’m here, I love this Democratic Party, but the reason I ran for this position was not to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, but to make sure that we actually stand up, use the power we have when we have it, to do the things we say we’re going to do to make a difference in people’s lives,” Martin said.

As Martin mingled with Mississippi Democratic officials on Friday evening at the Two Mississippi Museums, the backlash to his handling of the autopsy was still a major topic online.

Martin commissioned the autopsy report after he was elected DNC chair in early 2025 following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. But after he received the report, Martin refused for months to release it to the public, citing his desire to avoid “dwelling on 2024.”

When Martin finally released the unredacted report on Thursday, it contained a bright red disclaimer at the top stating that the DNC was not “provided with the underlying sourcing, interviews, or supporting data for many of the assertions contained” in the document. It also contained annotations showing the autopsy was riddled with factual errors — notes such as “Public reporting and data contradict several claims” were scattered throughout the document.

In a Substack post accompanying the release of the autopsy, he said the report didn’t meet his standards and apologized for his handling of the matter.

“In short, I didn’t want to create a distraction,” Martin wrote. “Ironically, in doing so, I ended up creating an even bigger distraction. And for that, I sincerely apologize.”

Martin, who led Minnesota’s Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party before winning the DNC Chairmanship after Trump’s re-election in 2024, has promised to strengthen Democratic infrastructure across the country as the party contends with internal struggles over fundraising and messaging.

In a statement before the dinner, Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst said the event shows Mississippi Democrats are out of touch with most voters in the state.

“It’s a sad time for Mississippi Democrats, as they have become so desperate that they are now importing national liberal leaders into our state, despite their failed policies and scandals which are driving voters away from their party across the country,” Hurst said. “Before Chairman Ken Martin and Vice Chairman Malcolm Kenyatta come asking for money from Mississippians, they need to answer for the extreme agenda they advocate for and represent.”

Martin said the Republican Party’s agenda was bad for Mississippi and that he plans to build a party that improves people’s lives even in places Democrats don’t control.

“We’re going to give people in this state and around the nation hope that their better days are ahead of them,” Martin said.