Ashton Pittman
@ashtonpittman.bsky.social
74K followers 11K following 5.5K posts
News Editor @mississippifreepress.org •Writer 🖋️ •Film Shooter 📷 •Husband 🏳️‍🌈 •Pibble Dad 🐾 Opinions = mine
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ashtonpittman.bsky.social
The mystery roll of film I developed yesterday turned out to be from my 2017 trip to Rodney, Mississippi—a ghost town on the banks of the Mississippi River that almost became the state capital.

Here you can see Rodney Presbyterian Church, whose façade is still damaged from a Civil War battle. 🧵
a photo of a woody area shows an old church in the distance, surrounded by woods and trees. Photo by Ashton Pittman
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
pedsortho.bsky.social
Please remember that the disgust people have over Christopher Columbus is not based on some modern, 21st century “woke” ideology, but rather on contemporaneous accounts of atrocities that make many modern genocides appear quaint in comparison.

Below, are the accounts of Bartlomé de las Casas.
But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had in-vested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.
The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed. After each six or eight months' work in the mines, which was the time required of each crew to dig enough gold for melting, up to a third of the men died.
While the men were sent many miles away to the mines, the wives remained to work the soil, forced into the excruciating job of digging and making thousands of hills for cassava plants.
Thus husbands and wives were together only once every eight or ten months and when they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides... they ceased to pro-create. As for the newly born, they died early because their mothers, overworked and fam-ished, had no milk to nurse them, and for this reason, while I was in Cuba, 7000 children died in three months. Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desper-ation.... In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk ... and in a short time this land which was so great, so powerful and fer-tile... was depopulated... My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write....
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
marisakabas.bsky.social
A miracle they’re still alive. Elated for their families. Can’t help but think of all the hostages who would have also come home two years ago had Netanyahu chosen his own people over his thirst for war.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
rbreich.bsky.social
The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $6.6 trillion.

The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion.

Read that back.

When 400 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
dieworkwear.bsky.social
This two-parter below is exactly why it's hard to make clothes in the United States.

Let's look at how much it costs to produce a button-up shirt in the US. 🧵
Someone on Twitter replies to me: "meh. buy american or stfu." 

Two hours later, in a separate thread, the write: "$30 for a single button-up is ridiculous unless it is decent quality silk."
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
ICE left David, a 17-year-old boy, stranded on the side of Interstate 20 after pulling over his immigrant father, Hector, in Mississippi.

David began running in the scorching sun after the car and watched as it disappeared from sight—soon headed to a Louisiana ICE prison.

Here's their story.
ICE Stranded a 17-Year-Old on I-20 After Arresting His Father. The Mississippi Dad Now Faces Deportation.
A 17-year-old watched as ICE arrested his immigrant father, Hector, on I-20 in June. The family faces mounting legal fees and the risk of deportation.
www.mississippifreepress.org
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
This.
donnerkay.bsky.social
Also, it’s time to keep your political National Guard quips to yourself right now while people are mourning and trying to come to terms with what is happening here. Stop it, please. Be better than those you’re trying to score points against.

It’s really time to center people over power and politics
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr., the last living witness of his cousin Emmett Till's abduction, will be the convocation speaker at the conclusion of Tougaloo College’s Founders’ Week on Sunday, Oct. 12.
Emmett Till Center to Honor His Legacy With Events Across State
The Emmett Till Interpretative Center will continue its “Remembering Emmett” series with events across Mississippi in October and November.
buff.ly
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
Shootings at Alcorn State University and Jackson State University on Saturday bring the death toll for this weekend's shootings across five Mississippi counties to nine, with at least 15 injured.

Other shootings hit three Mississippi high schools on Friday night, including two homecoming games.
Nine Dead, at Least 15 Injured in Shootings Across 5 Mississippi Counties
Six people are confirmed dead and at least 12 others injured in three separate shootings in Mississippi on the night of Friday, Oct. 10.
buff.ly
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
Biden was leading the FBI during Trump's first term? But if true!
marcelias.bsky.social
This has real -- I intended to dm "Pam" -- energy.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
goldengateblond.bsky.social
it actually offends me how sloppy and careless they are. anyone who’s ever been laid off knows the panic you feel when it happens. and while obviously it’s good that they backtracked, these are people’s fucking LIVELIHOODS they’re messing with.
Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
OPINION: "I ache that children now know how to barricade doors, that teachers carry more than lesson plans, that parents drop off sons and daughters with bullets in the back of their minds.

"This is not normal ... Other countries have ended school shootings. So can we," Duvalier Malone writes.
Opinion | As Kids Die at School, We Need an Emmett Till Moment
Dr. Duvalier Malone writes about the normalization of school shootings and how immediate action must be taken to stop them.
buff.ly
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
EDITOR'S NOTE: "I teach my children that their lives have purpose. That they come from ancestors who made something out of nothing," Torsheta Jackson writes.
Editor’s Note | What Bees Can Teach Us About Community
Torsheta Jackson writes about how bees are wired for community and about her own role in her own “hive.”
buff.ly
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not authorized for release, said U.S. Central Command is going to establish a “civil-military coordination center” in Israel that will help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance.
US Sending 200 Troops to Israel Amid Ceasefire Deal in Gaza
The United States is sending about 200 troops to Israel to monitor the Gaza ceasefire and establish a “civil-military coordination center.”
buff.ly
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
Mississippi was one of the first states to gain national attention for its approach to dyslexia. The state requires every kindergarten and first-grade student to be screened for dyslexia, provides ongoing training for teachers and allows parents to use scholarships for tuition at approved schools.
Dyslexia Scholarship Helps Mississippi Families Access Therapy
Five schools across Madison, Ridgeland, Petal, Hattiesburg and Ocean Springs are approved to accept students using Mississippi’s Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship. But large areas of Mississippi,…
buff.ly
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
"It is important for the students to keep in mind that the Civil Rights Movement was not long ago, and there is still work to be done,” Tougaloo College School of Humanities Dean Dr. Miranda Freeman said.
Emmett Till Center to Honor His Legacy With Events Across State
The Emmett Till Interpretative Center will continue its “Remembering Emmett” series with events across Mississippi in October and November.
buff.ly
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
About 80,000 Mississippian women get support from WIC.

Cassandra Welchlin emphasized that these women aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet—they're regular people who are struggling to make ends meet and need critical assistance from the government.

“WIC is not a luxury—it’s a lifeline,” she said.
WIC Stops Accepting Some Applicants Amid Government Shutdown
The WIC program will only accept applications from pregnant women, breastfeeding women and high-risk infants during the federal government shutdown.
buff.ly
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
donnerkay.bsky.social
Three small Mississippi towns, two in the Delta and one across the state near the Alabama line, saw tragic shootings last night.

By coincidence, we just updated our packed #PreventingViolence site yesterday with 10 years of solutions journalism: www.mississippifreepress.org/archives/pre...
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
Four died in a mass shooting at a homecoming game in the hometown of Kermit the frog in Leland, Mississippi, last night.

Two others died in a shooting at Heidelberg's homecoming Friday night.

Another Mississippi campus saw a shooting last night in Rolling Fork. Unclear if there were casualties.
Six Dead, At Least 12 Injured in Three Mississippi Shootings
Six people are confirmed dead and at least 12 others injured in three separate shootings in Mississippi on the night of Friday, Oct. 10.
www.mississippifreepress.org
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
donnerkay.bsky.social
Our nonprofit’s journalism is created by Mississippians, for Mississippians. Our defining goal is to continue to bring the kind of deeply reported, beautifully written, people-first journalism that inspires solutions inside our home state.

We center people over power. It’s non-negotiable:
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
ICE left David, a 17-year-old boy, stranded on the side of Interstate 20 after pulling over his immigrant father, Hector, in Mississippi.

David began running in the scorching sun after the car and watched as it disappeared from sight—soon headed to a Louisiana ICE prison.

Here's their story.
ICE Stranded a 17-Year-Old on I-20 After Arresting His Father. The Mississippi Dad Now Faces Deportation.
A 17-year-old watched as ICE arrested his immigrant father, Hector, on I-20 in June. The family faces mounting legal fees and the risk of deportation.
www.mississippifreepress.org