The Southern Truth: Vote for Michael Cathey in Ward-3 to Stop Allen Tanksley’s Backdoor Confederacy

The Southern Truth
By Dr. Gloria Zuurveen, Editor-in-Chief

S.O.S. – This is an emergency.

In this critical hour, Black men and women, can ill-afford to be asleep, especially the indigenous people of Mississippi clay dirt. Jesus came to set the captives free, and He is using you and me. He said we would do greater works than He did, and now is the time to act.

Tomorrow, April 1, is no day for fools.

In Tate County, Senatobia, the race is on—just hours away from deciding who will truly represent the voice of the people. Michael Cathey must win in a resounding, landslide victory. Unlike his opponent, who has been bankrolled by outside interests to maintain the status quo, Cathey stands for the people. In Ward 3—one of the most powerful districts in Tate County—the stakes couldn’t be higher. The seat is up for grabs, and the choice is clear.

Do not be deceived by the pseudo-Black voice of Allen Tanksley. He and his cohorts—Demetrious Garrett and Supervisor Tony Sandridge—have been playing a dangerous crossover game. They pose as Democrats to the Black community but align with Republicans in secret to serve their real masters. Their deception puts Newtown in jeopardy. Without intervention, legal and political maneuvering by developers and high-rolling outsiders will wipe out this predominantly Black ward.

Newtown, our legacy, will be erased if Tanksley, Garrett, and Sandridge continue their betrayal. The land that our ancestors fought to protect—Ms. Rosa Lee, Ms. Jessie Willie Bradford, Mr. Eddie Taylor, Ms. Viola Taylor, Mr. Lewis Carter, Mr. Cap Casey, Ms. Mildred Taylor, Mr. Cat Norwood, Mr. Cornelius Webb, Mr. and Mrs. Orange, Cousin Berta Walker, Mr. Willie Stanley and many, many others—will be snatched away. These ancestors bled and toiled to stave off White supremacy and Jim Crow oppression. They left us the responsibility to preserve their hard-won victories, but now we have three stooges, stepping and fetching, ready to hand everything over.

Too many of our people walk around like zombies—docile and despondent—playing right into the hands of their oppressors. But it’s not too late. Tomorrow, we have the power to change this narrative.

Michael Cathey doesn’t have flashy billboards paid for by the crossover crew, but his campaign is powered by the people. If we don’t act now, the powers that be will use our own votes to take Ward 3 from us. And if we wake up on April 2 to the news that Tanksley won, it won’t be an April Fool’s joke—it will be a tragedy.

Wake up. See the real deal.

These three scoundrels—Tanksley, Garrett, and Sandridge—are playing their voters for fools. They stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a known racist who, while campaigning against Democratic candidate Mike Espy, made a shocking statement in 2018 during an appearance in Tupelo, Mississippi, with cattle rancher Colin Hutchinson: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be in the front row.”

There was no outcry from Tanksley, Garrett, or Sandridge. They chose to go along to get along, enabling Hyde-Smith’s dangerous rhetoric. This type of allegiance should never have been tolerated then, and it must not be tolerated today. This is why Tanksley must go. The people have the power to demand his removal with their votes.

This Black confederacy must be dismantled and never allowed to rise again. With Michael Cathey on the people’s side, there will no longer be so-called Black representatives secretly pledging their allegiance elsewhere while their Black constituents remain in the dark.

But we still have the power. The polls open at 7 AM and close at 7 PM. For the sake of those who reside here and in honor of those who have died, get out and vote. Vote to save and preserve this rich, resurrected legacy.

Vote for Michael Cathey. Give yourselves a victory.