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Mississippi United is celebrating its first six months of helping Mississippians get informed and take action to move our state forward.
Our efforts are:
Making it easier for folks to raise their voices about issues and policies that matter. Encouraging citizens to be a thorn in the sides of politicians who don’t care what we have to say. Helping people do the hard work of living in a democracy.I launched Mississippi United after working as an amateur activist and organizer because it became so clear to me that Mississippians are hungry for an avenue to actually DO SOMETHING to make things better in this beautiful and complicated place.
The fortunate among us could be anywhere else. But we’re here because it’s home. It’s where our roots are. We love the food and the music and the sports and our church and the hunting and fishing and the literature and the local theater. We love the short lines at the cash register and the red lights. We love the fresh air, the eye contact and smiles from complete strangers.
And whether we could be someplace else or not, so many of us are certain things could be better in Mississippi, and we’re willing to fight for it.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., questions witnesses during a hearing on Capitol Hill, June 10, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP Photo/Manuel Balce CenetaMississippi could be a place where good health care is readily available, whether you’re in Belhaven or Mound Bayou. Where, if you’re expecting a child, you know there is medical personnel within reach to care for you and your newborn. Where you rest easy because you know your kids are getting an education at the local public school that will prepare them for a future better than anything you could have imagined at their age. Where dependable and affordable child-care incentivize you to work and support your family. Where law enforcement is there to serve and protect all Mississippians and not just some, and all Mississippians actually believe it. Where the median household income is well above the current $55,000 per year and is sufficient that folks can sleep at night knowing there’s enough by the end of the month to keep the lights on, the refrigerator stocked, the prescriptions bought, the car note paid and maybe even a little to sock away for the future.
Mississippi could be a place where lawmakers actively encourage all of us to get out and vote and do everything in their power to make sure our voices are heard at the ballot box and not drowned out due to partisan gerrymandering.
Mississippi could be a place where proponents of economic development understand there’s no better investment than in our health care and our education.
And Mississippi doesn’t have to sell itself out to giant tech companies for billion dollar AI “developments” that will ultimately offer little in the way of jobs for our people and will most likely bring noise and air pollution, natural resource depletion and rising utility costs for consumers. No, Mississippi could be a place where its leaders recognize the desperation of those companies to find land and power like we have in abundance here and demand they invest in us and our people in ways that help more Mississippians thrive.
I’m no expert on AI data centers, but there are plenty of communities all over the country that have become the experts by learning the hard way. And our state leaders would be foolish to ignore the lessons learned from those experiences.
Mississippi could be a place where our lawmakers don’t talk out of both sides of their mouth. In one breath preaching peace through strength and in the next voting “nay” on the war powers resolution that would perhaps begin to end the most ill-conceived and unsupported war we’ve ever started.
In one breath saying we don’t have the money to begin to solve the issues facing our poorest public schools and in the next breath voting “yay” on HB 1944, which will use tax credits to give up to $20 million of our state taxes every year to private schools for literally anything, regardless of whether it helps educate a single student.
In one breath saying we should expand Medicaid but only if it includes “work requirements” and in the next breath (or a breath two years later) saying the nearly identical version of Medicaid expansion passed under the federal “Big Beautiful Bill,” including the work requirement, is too expensive for Mississippi. In reality the federal return on the state’s investment in any version of Medicaid expansion is just too good to pass up.
In one breath saying undocumented immigrants are costing taxpayers too much money and in the next breath supporting detention of nonviolent immigrants at a cost to taxpayers of $152 per day and the loss of all the tax dollars working immigrants pay, when even the Cato Institute reports that immigrants have reduced our nation’s deficit by $14.5 trillion over the past 30 years.
Mississippi could be a place where our U.S. senators and their staff don’t criticize and literally run from constituents who dare to show up with facts from the Congressional Budget Office about the financial hit we’re all taking thanks to the “Big Beautiful Bill” and tariffs.
Our state could be all of these things, but only if we Mississippians demand it. Problem is, the work of demanding it is hard. And life is already hard enough for a lot of folks, no matter where you sit in relation to that $55,000 median income.
There are carpools to run and meals to cook and groceries to buy and jobs to work and broken appliances to fix and bills to pay and homework to help with and plumbers to call and doctor’s appointments to schedule and lost shoes to find and deadlines to meet and pets to feed and what the heck is Medicaid really anyway and why does it matter to me since I have private health insurance and what’s the truth about this war in Iran? And I read something the other day about data centers, but I don’t really get it and is ICE really in Mississippi and are they actually deporting folks? Just the really bad criminals, right?
My hope for Mississippi United is to make it easier on all of us to be a voice for positive change. We want to make it easier to understand how different policies impact life at home and for our neighbors. We want to simplify the often intimidating process of learning about an issue and then raising our voices about it to policymakers. We want to make sure our elected officials know that we are paying attention and we have both the courage and the knowledge required to speak up on the things that matter to us.
To accomplish these goals, Mississippi United prepares letters to lawmakers about different issues and enables anyone to review the letter and sign on with little more than a couple mouse clicks.
We share tips on legislation and who to call to voice your opposition or support. We publicize a calendar of statewide events Mississippians eager for positive change may want to attend. We keep a resource library for folks to learn more about the policies we discuss in our calls to action.
Our most recent featured letter concerns the war in Iran and is addressed to U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker. We demands a congressional investigation and public hearings in the Senate Armed Forces Committee that he chair.
Several of us, including four U.S. military veterans, recently hand-delivered that letter and the signatures of 620 Mississippians, to Sen. Wicker’s Jackson office.
We explained to the senator’s staffers that Mississippians are eager to understand why the U.S. launched a war without congressional approval, what the goals and strategies and endgame are for this war, what the human and financial costs will be and what benefit will come to Americans as a result. We would like to know how this war will impact global trade and oil prices and our own pocketbooks, and how this war will affect our relationships with whatever remaining allies we have and how it will embolden China, Russia and North Korea.
Mississippi United is here to help people ask those questions and demand answers from the folks who work for us in Washington. We did just that by delivering the letter to Sen. Wicker’s staff.
Imagine our shock when the senator’s staffer told us, in no uncertain terms, that the senator “has no power” over President Trump’s war in Iran. Two of the veterans with us – one a 1st lieutenant infantry, combat platoon leader for the U.S. Army in Vietnam, and the other an Air Force sergeant, avionics specialist on F-4 Phantoms, were so disgusted they had to turn around and walk out of the senator’s office before the visit concluded. Six of us remained in the office — two retired government lawyers, two retired private practice lawyers, a retired CPA and U.S. Army veteran, and another retired veteran.
We insisted that the senator had the power to vote in favor of the war powers resolution, but he voted “nay” instead. We explained that the very reason for our letter was that the senator has the power to launch an investigation and hold congressional hearings about this war. And he has the power to speak out against the war and the power to vote against additional funding for the war. The staffer said she would relay our messages to the senator.
The issues we help Mississippians tackle vary from week to week. So far, we’ve taken up the financial and emotional cost of immigrant detentions and deportations, the tactics used by ICE, the extension of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, First Amendment protections, the Epstein files, impeachment of various administration officials, the financial hit to Mississippians from the “Big Beautiful Bill” and tariffs, school choice, ballot initiatives, infant mortality, voter suppression, and 287(g) agreements, and now the war in Iran, among other issues.
What’s particularly unique about this work is that we understand that we don’t all have to agree on all the same things in order to move the needle. There are likely far more Mississippians passionately opposed to the war in Iran than those who care one way or another about ACA tax credits. And that’s fine.
When folks see a letter or a call to action from us that speaks to them, they can sign on to the letter and make the calls if they want. And if it’s something they don’t agree with or don’t care about, they can sit that one out. Easy breezy.
All told, Mississippi United has helped 1,286 Mississippians make nearly 108,000 written contacts with approximately 250 local, state and federal officials in just six months.
When you combine that with all the work folks are doing on their own – calling lawmakers, showing up for protests, writing letters to the editor, emailing their representatives, attending legislative hearings, visiting with legislators – we’re certain that Mississippians are moving the needle in a positive direction.
Kathleen O’Beirne is a native Mississippian, a recovering lawyer, and an eternal optimist convinced that Mississippi can get off the bottom of all the good lists and the top of all the bad lists, if we really want to. She studied political science and Spanish at Davidson College and obtained her J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law. O’Beirne says the very best part about her work as an activist and as the founder of Mississippi United is getting to know the fabulous Mississippians throughout the state who work hard every day to make things better. Anyone interested in learning more about Mississippi United can visit www.mississippiunited.online.
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