JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Democratic state Rep. Zakiya Summers of Jackson has been in the Mississippi House only since January. She stepped into a leadership role Friday when protesters were demanding to enter the state Capitol and were being blocked by police officers who stood in front of a locked door.
The protesters wanted any elected official - the governor, the attorney general, any available legislator - to listen to their grievances about police brutality against African Americans.
Summers was the only lawmaker to be found inside the Capitol on an afternoon that the House and Senate were not meeting. At the request of Capitol police, she stepped outside to speak to the crowd of about 200.
Summers made an immediate connection, letting protesters know she was listening to their concerns.
“I want the same thing y’all want - no free killing,” Summers said.
One of the protesters held a megaphone to amplify the freshman lawmaker’s voice. Summers said that as a black woman, she worries about the possibility of police brutality against her three sons, her husband or her father.
“Yes, ma’am,” one of the protesters responded. “Come on with it,” said another.
“It’s time out for the foolishness,” Summers said. “And it’s time out from people being in positions and using their position and using their privilege and using their whiteness to continue to oppress our people.”
The protesters had already been to the Sillers state office building across the street from the Capitol, where they were turned away when a police officer told them the building was closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. They wanted to deliver a letter to Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch, criticizing her decision to drop the prosecution of a white former police officer, Canyon Boykin, in the 2015 shooting death of an African American man, Ricky Ball, after a traffic stop.
Fitch’s predecessor, Democrat Jim Hood, persuaded a grand jury to indict Boykin in 2016 on a manslaughter charge. Boykin pleaded not guilty and was awaiting trial. After Fitch took office in January, she had her staff review the case, and she announced May 28 that she was dropping the charge after concluding the evidence showed Boykin acted in self-defense. The case was dropped “with prejudice,” meaning it can’t be refiled.
The Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign organized the Friday protest and wrote the letter to Fitch. Summers promised she would deliver copies to every lawmaker. Her voice also choked with emotion as she stood with Ball’s young daughter and told the crowd that “systemic racism is real.”
“This is not a moment. This is a movement,” Summers said. “My heart is filled. What a time to be a legislator, right? What a time to be in a position where you can create the change that you want to see.”
During a news conference Thursday, Summers had stood with other members of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus in the Capitol rotunda. They said they hope national protests about police treatment of African Americans will focus attention on some changes they have sought for years. Democratic Rep. John Faulkner of Holly Springs said the proposals include the mandated use of body cameras by law enforcement officers and the appointment of special prosecutors in cases of officer-involved shootings.
Faulkner said caucus members have also sought to require “racial impact statements” for all pieces of legislation, evaluating how proposed laws might affect African Americans.
And they have pushed for automatic restoration of voting rights when a person completes a sentence for a disenfranchising felony. Mississippi’s current system disproportionately hurts African Americans. Legislators must vote to restore suffrage on a person-by-person basis, and only a few of those requests are granted each year.
Summers’ action of listening to the protesters helped diffuse tension Friday. Summers also praised the Capitol police, who had stood stoically while several protesters yelled in their faces.
“I love our security because they’re doing their job,” said Summers, who was flanked by several officers. As Summers spoke, a Capitol policewoman stood with her arm protectively around the lawmaker’s back.
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Emily Wagster Pettus has covered Mississippi government and politics since 1994. Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.
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