It’s the first day of Mississippi’s 2022 legislative session, an often long and challenging process for those who advocate for the rights and freedoms of Mississippians. Over the next 90 days, legislators will be facing key issues that can change the state’s democratic, educational, healthcare and criminal justice landscape for good or bad.
There is ample opportunity for lawmakers to model bold and equitable choices in criminal justice reform, access to voting, redistricting, and many more issues that will impact our daily lives. We need:
- Expungements for marijuana-related charges;
- Online voter registration and no-excuse early voting;
- Restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated Mississippians; and
- Fair and equitable district maps.
We must also press legislators to guarantee that every LGBTQ Mississippian will be free from discrimination; teachers will not be punished for speaking freely anf truthfully about our country's past and present; and every person seeking reproductive freedom has access to safe and legal abortion.
The opportunity to push Mississippi forward is now. Thanks in advance to the lawmakers who will make the right choices.
