2/11/21 - Senate Bill Raises Tension | Community Health Centers & Vaccine Access | Book Club: I Don’t Like the Blues

Mississippi Edition

Tensions rise on the Senate floor as the chamber passes a voter purge bill.

Then, we examine the roll community health centers are playing in bringing vaccines to the state’s under-served.

Plus, in our Book Club, being black in Mississippi in “I Don’t Like the Blues: Race, Place and the Backbeat of Black Life.”

Segment 1:

Mississippians who vote occasionally might find their names removed from the rolls. According to Senate Bil 2588, Mississippians who don't vote within a two year period will receive a notification in the mail to confirm or update their information. If they fail to do so, and don’t vote in four more years, their names will be removed from the rolls. Republican Senator Jeff Tate of Meridian authored the bill.

The bill received heavy scrutiny from Democratic members of the Senate. On the heels of a national election fueled by unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud, Senator David Jordan questioned why such a bill was being presented without any evidence.

Segment 2:

African Americans in Mississippi have only received 19 percent of the state's vaccine supply, yet make up nearly 40 percent of the state's population. To combat this disparity, the Mississippi Department of Health is pushing some of the state's coronavirus vaccine doses to partners in under-served communities. Janice Sherman is CEO of the Community Health Center Association of Mississippi, an organization with 21 facilities across the state caring for more than 300 thousand patients. She tells our Kobee Vance health centers are continuing to search for new ways to reach under-served communities.

Segment 3:

When B. Brian Foster came back to his home state of Mississippi, he went on a five year journey to discover black culture. The University of Mississippi Assistant professor of Sociology and Southern Studies focused on the Clarksdale area. He talked with people from all walks of life about their past and present and how they felt about blues music. The result: “I Don’t Like the Blues: Race, Place and the Backbeat of Black Life.”

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