Senate Resolution 54

A RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE 40-YEAR CAREER OF THE CLARION LEDGER CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT JIMMIE GATES.

WHEREAS, Jimmie Gates of Jackson, Mississippi, retired as a

Journalist with The Clarion Ledger after 40 years on December 1, 2020. He was a well-known and respected Capitol Correspondent and served as a bridge between the Legislature, the newspaper and the community; and

WHEREAS, Jimmie Gates worked nearly every beat at The Clarion Ledger and its former sister paper, the Jackson Daily News, since his byline first appeared four decades ago. He began writing community features, then took on minority affairs as one of only a handful of African-American Journalists at the paper in the 1980s. He covered county and city governments, crisscrossed the halls of the Mississippi State Capitol and settled into a role focused on courts and criminal justices; and

WHEREAS, through it all, he honed a reputation for fairness, for hard work and a gentle interviewing style, for colorful legislative and courtroom tales and a deep pool of sources that he was happy to share with younger colleagues; and

WHEREAS, Gates (65) dreamed of becoming a journalist growing up in Jackson during the Civil Rights Movement. The Jackson State University graduate landed a staff job at the Jackson Daily News, the afternoon paper, in 1981 following an internship. He admits to being slightly star-struck joining the journalists he grew up reading, back when he would pore through the paper after his grandfather was finished with it; and

WHEREAS, more than a year later came another formative moment for a young Gates: The Clarion Ledger won its only Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories that led to education reform. Gates was "just a green rookie" then, but it was nevertheless "great to be part of that atmosphere for a young reporter," he said. That series led to the passage of the landmark "Education Reform Act of 1982." As a minority affairs reporter, Gates played a key role in trying to show "that we did care about the African American community; and

WHEREAS, after stints in a number of other beats over the years, Gates said he eventually found court reporting as his calling. He loved covering the high-profile trials, he said, trying to place his readers inside the tense and emotion-filled courtrooms, always striving to "walk that tightrope" of showing fairness to both sides; and

WHEREAS, when he was not in a courtroom, Gates could often be found working the halls of the Capitol, a place where seemingly everyone knew his name and wanted to say hello. In 2021, he covered two major policy changes he said he was surprised to see finally happen in Mississippi: a new state flag and voters' approval of medical marijuana; and

WHEREAS, Representative Alyce Clarke has served since 1985 and got to know Gates well over the years. Gates was a reporter "who was willing to tell it like it is," she said, even if the truth was uncomfortable. But she said he was also willing to tell positive news stories about lawmakers and the policies they passed. "He was somebody really easy to talk to, someone nice to talk to, and someone interested in the good things that were going on," Clarke said; and

WHEREAS, Jimmie Gates was a masterful interviewer, former colleagues said, eliciting revelatory information from reluctant sources, thanks to his gentle and kind approach. He never raised his voice with a source - a rarity in any high-stress newsroom environment; and

WHEREAS, Gates said in retirement he plans to do some freelancing and work on a book. Jimmie is married to wife Pattie Gates and has a daughter, April.

WHEREAS, it is with great pride that we pay tribute to a Mississippi Journalist known for fairness and hard work whose positive reporting contributed to his community and to the State of Mississippi:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby recognize the 40-year career of The Clarion Ledger Capitol Correspondent, Jimmie Gates, commend his fair and balanced reporting style and extend our best wishes to Jimmie and his family for future successes.

be it further resolved, that this resolution be presented to Jimmie Gates, forwarded to The Clarion Ledger Executive Editor and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.