It’s a testament to the power of social media that the state of Mississippi has finally acknowledged it has a responsibility to protect an unmarked African American cemetery that stands in the way of the Continental Tire project near Clinton, Miss., more than two weeks after I broke the cemetery here. That first story followed an interview with two elderly African American sisters who remember burying relatives in the unmarked cemetery adjacent to a marked white cemetery known as New Salem, in an area that will be leveled for the plant. At that time, the state had not acknowledged the presence of the unmarked black graves in their plans for…

Jackson, Mississippi TV station WLBT responded to the cemetery story with this segment. The next day, the station ran a followup report in which they revealed the results of an “investigation” that found the gravestones had been moved to the Bolton cemetery — something that had been noted here four days before, but whatever: Good for them for sticking with the story. Also on Tuesday, WJTV news aired this report. The takeaway of the TV reports is, “A cemetery is being moved and local people are upset about it.” Neither addresses the central question, which is whether all of the graves have been or will be located and moved, including the…

This site is a general introduction to my work, with links to a few stories and summaries of my books and professional experience as a writer and editor. Other stories, photos, videos, blog entries, links and updates can be found on sites linked under “Bio” on the page menu.