共和党领导的密西西比州众议院于2月7日通过了一项法案，该法案将形成一个由未经选举的法官和检察官组成的法院系统，以主持首都杰克逊的部分地区，并扩大国会大厦的警力，此举引起了民权组织的愤怒。
包括密西西比州众议院少数党领袖、州众议员罗伯特·l·约翰逊三世(Robert L. Johnson III)在内的几名民选官员反对该法案，认为该法案将剥夺城市居民的声音，其中大多数是黑人。
约翰逊星期三在美国广播公司新闻直播节目中谈到了这项法案和他的担忧。
ABC新闻直播:所以我想从阅读你们关于这些法案的联合声明开始。你说HB 1020和SB 2889是“一种侮辱和干扰，剥夺了我们首都市民的权力，而我们却浪费关键时间坐在那里，让医院关闭，让我们的人民死去。”你接着说，“这些钞票就是现代吉姆·克劳的样子。”向我们解释一下这个法案是如何开始进行的。
众议员罗伯特·约翰逊三世:嗯，我们有一个占绝对多数的众议院和参议院，还有一个共和党州长。正如我所描述的那样，他们不时地对这个过程感到陌生，他们不尊重立法机构的规则、程序或传统。甚至没有机会讨论其中的一些问题。他们刚刚决定，他们只是要运行粗暴的整个过程，并得到他们想要的。
ABC新闻直播:好的。所以就通俗地给我们分解一下吧。如果该法案通过，这对黑人居民来说意味着什么?
约翰逊:实际上，他们的法官是由最高法院的法官任命的，而最高法院的法官是由策划这一努力的州长任命的。他们在法官职位上没有任何发言权，那些多重法官职位。所以这些人不会回答住在海因兹县的人的问题。不仅该法官不是选举产生的，[而且]该法官可以来自该州的任何地方。因此宪法规定我们所有的法官……都应该选举产生。因此，这剥夺了杰克逊市人民的投票权，他们行使宪法权力的权利。
所以任何人对密西西比州提起的诉讼，我们都会提起。我是一名律师，如果你起诉密西西比州，他们必须通过海因兹县的巡回法院或衡平法院。曾经有一段时间我们在为公共教育争取更多的资金。他们想要挑战的事情之一是公投提案的合宪性。一名白人共和党议员告诉他的选民，“如果我们通过这次公投，那么你将不得不对海因兹县的一名黑人法官负责。”有这些小短语，这些邀请…他们总是指向种族。
ABC新闻直播:这项法案有可能在参议院夭折吗?
约翰逊:该法案有可能在参议院夭折。值得庆幸的是，因为喧嚣，因为我们许多人的推动——从律师到社区活动家，立法者和来自人们的国家压力，就像来自网络的曝光和像你这样的人，他们感受到了压力。这看起来确实像吉姆克劳，像后重建。这看起来就像我们这些年纪够大的人在民权运动中长大时所记得的一切，那些我们努力扭转的事情。
美国广播公司新闻直播:代表，我知道你的意图是阻止它，但我们只是在这里玩魔鬼的倡导者。你是否担心，如果这项法案真的成为法律，它会为共和党在未来几年的斗争创造一个新的模板，就像批评种族理论法所发生的那样?
约翰逊:嗯，是的。听着，我们告诉人们，我们一直在告诉全州的人们:这不是杰克逊的问题;这是密西西比的问题。如果他们要对杰克逊下手，他们会对格林维尔，格林伍德，任何他们想去的地方下手。他们想在城市中创造一个城市，只为特定人群服务。这个首都城市综合体拥有不成比例的白人人口。[它]并不代表杰克逊市的实际人均人口。这是他们在任何一个有黑人或非裔美国人领导的城市将会做的模板。所以，是的，危险在于这是共和党人在失去政治权力的地方继续走的路。
Bill to change Jackson judges looks 'like Jim Crow,' Mississippi lawmaker says
The Republican-led Mississippi state House of Representatives passed a bill on Feb. 7 that would form a court system of unelected judges and prosecutors to preside over part of the capital city of Jackson and expand the Capitol Police force, a move that is drawing the ire of civil rights groups.
Several elected officials, including state Rep. Robert L. Johnson III, the Mississippi House Minority Leader, have sounded off against the bill, contending that it would remove the voice of city residents, the majority of whom are Black.
Johnson spoke with ABC News Live Wednesday about the bill and his concerns.
Mississippi State Capitol building in downtown Jackson, Miss.
Sean Pavone/Getty Images
ABC NEWS LIVE: So I want to start by reading part of your joint statement about these bills. You say HB 1020 and SB 2889 are "an insult and a distraction, taking power away from the citizens of our capital city while we waste critical hours sitting around and letting hospitals close and our people die." You go on to say, "These bills are what modern-day Jim Crow looks like." Explain to us how this bill even got this far along in the process to begin with.
REP. ROBERT L. JOHNSON III: Well, we have a supermajority-led House and Senate and a Republican governor. And as I described them, from time to time, they are kind of new to this process and they don't have any respect for the rules, procedure or tradition of the legislature. There aren't even opportunities to debate some of these issues. They've just decided that they're just going to run roughshod over the whole process and have what they want.
ABC NEWS LIVE: All right. So just break it down for us in layman's terms. If this were to pass, what would this mean for the Black residents?
JOHNSON: Well, they would essentially have judges who will be appointed by a supreme court justice who was appointed by this very governor that is engineering this effort. They wouldn't have any say-so in that judgeship, those multiple judgeships. And so those people would answer to no one who lives in Hinds County. Not only would that judge not be elected, [but also] that judge could come from anywhere in the state. And so the constitution says all of our judges… shall be elected. And so this takes that right to vote, their right to exercise their constitutional power [away] from the people in the city of Jackson.
So all the cases that anybody brings against the state of Mississippi, and we bring them all the time. I'm a lawyer, if you sue the state of Mississippi, they have to come through the circuit or chancery court in Hinds County. There was a time when we were fighting for more money for public education. And one of the things that they wanted to challenge was the constitutionality of the referendum proposal. One of the white Republican legislators told his constituents, 'If we pass this referendum, then you will have to answer to a Black judge in Hinds County.' There are these little phrases, these invites…that they have that always point to race.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Is there a chance that this bill will die in the Senate?
JOHNSON: There is a chance the bill would die in the Senate. Thankfully, because of the uproar, because of the push that many of us have had -- from lawyers to community activists, the legislators and the national pressure from people like just the exposure from networks and people like you, they are feeling the pressure. This looks does look like Jim Crow, like post-Reconstruction. This looks like everything that some of us who are old enough remember growing up through the civil rights movement, the things that we fought to reverse.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Representative, I know your intention is to stop it, but let's just play devil's advocate here. Are you concerned that if this bill does become law, would it create a new template for a Republican fight for the years to come similar to what's happened with critical race theory law, for example?
JOHNSON: Well, yes. Look, we tell people, we've been telling people all over the state: This is not a Jackson problem; this is a Mississippi problem. If they're going to do it to Jackson, they'll do it to Greenville, Greenwood, anywhere they want to go. They want to create a city within a city that just serves a particular segment of the population. This capital city complex has a disproportionate white population. [It] doesn't represent the actual per capita demographic in the city of Jackson. This is a template for what they will do in any city that has Black or African American leadership. And so, yes, the danger is that this is the route Republicans will continue to do in places where they lose political power.
