Jackson City Council could censure Stokes for his incendiary remarks

The Jackson City Council could consider whether to censure Councilman Kenneth Stokes for remarks he made to two women during a heated debate over a moratorium on data centers.

A resolution censuring Stokes for his conduct at council meetings was listed Friday on the planned agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting. 

If adopted by the council, the censure would be a rare rebuke of Stokes, the longest-serving member in Jackson who has a history of making chaotic statements and insulting people who question him. 

City Council President Vernon Hartley did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hartley had shared the proposed resolution with Stokes in a letter earlier this week, asking Stokes to apologize for his recent remarks. 

Stokes responded at a press conference Thursday in which his attorney, Dennis Sweet III, said the proposed resolution infringes on the councilman’s right to free speech and that Stokes will sue his colleagues if they censure him.

The potential reprimand comes after some residents pushed for the council to condemn comments from Stokes, the longest-serving member who represents Ward 3 in west-central Jackson. 

Jacksonians have voiced opposition during public comment periods to Stokes’ behavior. One woman who lives in Stokes’ neighborhood gathered nearly 100 signatures on a petition calling on the council to censure him.

On Nov. 3, the council recessed a meeting after Stokes said he would “cuss that bitch out” in response to an indirect comment a woman in the audience made about his mother. He then told another woman, Candace Abdul-Tawwab, who was wearing a hijab, to “take the rags out y’all hair, y’all not Muslim.”

Abdul-Tawwab, executive director of an organization called Mississippi For a Just World, attended the meeting to oppose Stokes’ effort to repeal the city’s moratorium on data centers. 

Stokes’ remarks drew swift condemnation from some in the audience, who chanted “kick him out,” and from some of Stokes’ fellow council members. Kevin Parkinson, who represents Ward 7 near downtown, immediately exited the chambers. 

“Quite frankly, this was not the first time,” Parkinson wrote in a statement he issued later that night. “I felt I couldn’t, in good conscience, sit through such behavior as though it were acceptable.”

This would not be the first time the council reprimanded Stokes.

In 2003, Stokes’ colleagues censured him after he claimed during a council meeting that an unnamed member had requested a bribe from a permit applicant, according to archival news reports. 

Stokes, known for wearing oversized suits and a hat emblazoned with his last name, was first elected to the city council in 1989. Throughout his nearly four decades on the city council, his comments have repeatedly made national news. His behavior has often drawn comparisons to President Donald Trump.

In 2004, Stokes threatened to slap then-Councilman Ben Allen during a heated argument at a council meeting.

In 2010, Stokes staged a protest outside The Clarion-Ledger building near City Hall after the newspaper questioned his use of taxpayer funds for trips to Chicago, New York and Washington. 

In a 2015 interview with WLBT, Stokes told viewers to throw “rocks and bricks and bottles” at police officers who chase suspects from neighboring jurisdictions into Jackson. The following year, he called previous Rankin County Undersheriff Raymond Duke a “hog headed lying bastard” when Duke referenced the comment in a Facebook post.

Last year, Stokes repeatedly accused his nephew, Daniel Cooper, of being a “dope dealer” after Cooper opened a food truck in the Georgetown neighborhood, on a plot of land to which Stokes  has a potential claim through heir property law.

Cooper denied the allegation, and Mississippi Today found no Jackson drug sale charges in Cooper’s history.

In September, Stokes called another councilman, Brian Grizzell, a “sissy” after Grizzell opposed an effort from Stokes to rename a street. 

“If you see one, hit one,” Grizzell responded to Stokes. Grizzell, who represents Ward 4 in western Jackson, later apologized for the remark. Stokes has not apologized to Grizzell. 

This incident is why Norma Michael, who lives a few blocks from Stokes in Georgetown, organized the petition calling on the council to censure Stokes and fine him $500.

“He thinks he can do what he wants,” she said.