Jackson Advocate, black weekly newspaper in Jackson, MS, firebombed

Jet, Feb 16, 1998

A recent firebombing at the Black-owned newspaper, the Jackson (MS) Advocate, left the newsroom a charred shell, but the publisher says the newspaper will continue and will not miss its weekly deadline.

"We are coming out today," Jackson Advocate Publisher Charles Tisdale told Jet several days after the firebombing. "We are not going to miss our deadline. We are going to fight, fight, fight," he declared.

Tisdale said the attack came three days after an anonymous caller threatened to kill him.

"I'm not going to be intimidated," said Tisdale, adding that the weekly newspaper, known for its battles with local officials, has been vandalized or bombed more than 20 times since he took over in the late 1970s. "I'm not afraid."

Tisdale said authorities have ignored past reports of vandalism and drive-by shootings, and he doesn't expect them to pursue this case.

"We always handle controversial subjects," Tisdale said. "It's hard to tell where attacks come from, but I believe it was White folks."

Authorities said the door of the building was kicked in and gasoline may have been used to douse furniture and papers before two homemade bombs were thrown inside.

Flames destroyed computers, cameras, books and art in a first floor newsroom. Tisdale, 67, said there was $100,000 in damage.

Tisdale's wife, Alice, carried soot-covered files from the two-story brick building. She said it reminded her of a darker period in this country's history.

"It's like times past, but they're back again," she said. "People are supposed to have moved past that."

Stephanie Parker-Weaver, a spokeswoman for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Mississippi, called it "a hate crime of the highest order."

Finding a suspect may be difficult because of the wide array of possible motives, said Vernon Hughes, a fire investigator who referred to stories published in the newspaper.

"It could be one article. It could be two articles. It could be a past article. It might have been a lead on a future article," he said.

The newspaper was founded in 1938 and has 26 employees and a circulation of 28,000.

Tisdale said he had some insurance on the contents of the building, and production will be temporarily moved. He said the Advocate has never missed an edition and "will always be here."

Tisdale stressed, "We are telling it like it is, that's what a newspaper is supposed to do. And I intend to keep telling it like it is."