Reiders, I hope you’re well. I come bearing gifts!
In the video above, you’ll find an extended version of Joy’s interview with esteemed civil rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams on “The ReidOut” on Monday — the 60th anniversary of when her husband, Medgar Evers, was assassinated in their Mississippi driveway by a white supremacist.
Medgar Evers was an activist and organizer who served as the NAACP’s first Mississippi field secretary, and Myrlie worked as an activist alongside him — helping to provide Black people with access to the ballot box, employment and public resources at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
At times, the Mississippi of today seems indiscernible from the Mississippi of 1963. Today, we see racist voter suppression efforts, a governor who will gleefully take a swipe at his largely Black capital city and a siphoning of public goods to the white and wealthy that blurs the line between past and present.
Myrlie Evers-Williams has seen it all, and it’s a treat to hear her put things in perspective. Check it out!
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.