A black hero Capitol police officer out of Mississippi was fired after confronting some protesters who were waving Confederate and state flags outside the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.
Less than a day later, he was rehired.
According to the Clarion Ledger, officials with the Department of Finance and Administration, who oversee the Capitol Police, confirmed that the officer, identified as 57-year-old Wardell Jackson, had been rehired.
Jackson was “fired” after Facebook footage surfaced of him approaching the Confederate-flag wavers and doing what he could in that moment over the weekend ... that is, kicking them off the property of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.
The losers who were proudly carrying their loser flag for some reason were identified as the Delta Flaggers, who are known for protesting outside Mississippi state institutions that don’t fly the state flag—which has a Confederate battle flag incorporated into it.
One of the members posted on Facebook complaining about the officer, which really just had me cackling with delight.
Chris Blount posted on Facebook:
This is NOT the first altercation with this officer. This is how it started. Off camera one of our members walked over there to ask him about taking a group picture with the Civil Rights sign (not stating how or where) the cop “Went off on him” telling him hell no and to take his Howdy Doody counterfeit ass back across the street. He told the cop that we had no bad intentions and that we just wanted to take a group picture with the new Museum and he said hell no again you’re not going to do it, get back across the road. hollering and kicking the pavement. That’s when this guy with a state flag went over there to take a picture, and I started recording. He was the only one with an attitude like that. The rest of the people (even his boss seen in another video) we had no problems with.
In the video, Jackson can be seen walking up to a man waving the Mississippi state flag while standing on the sidewalk outside the museum.
“Sir, sir, stop acting the fool, and get over there off the sidewalk,” Jackson can be heard telling the man.
Someone is heard shouting back, “It’s a public sidewalk.”
Jackson, much like a honey badger, does not give a shit about that.
“People, people, let me tell you something,” he says. “If you set foot on this grass, I’m going to have to throw you back out of here.”
As he walks away from the flaggers, he grabs at the flagpole for a moment, pretending to drag it away.
“That’s assault!” a man can then be heard whining.
“Did I put my hands on you?” Jackson, still out of fucks to give, responds. “Thank you.”
“You hit him with the stick,” another person cries out.
“You need to get your ass off the sidewalk,” Jackson counters.
The exchange continues for a moment before the man with the flag finally gets off the sidewalk. Jackson can be seen raising his fist.
Jackson was not having any of it.
The officer told the Clarion-Ledger that the incident began when a man asked if he could stand on top of the brick sign for the civil rights museum and the History of Mississippi Museum. He said he explained to the man that he couldn’t do that and that he himself was trying to keep the driveway open “for my museum people to come in.”
“I did my job,” Jackson said. “I kept them off property. Now I’m being punished.”
He was fired Monday before being rehired Wednesday. Still, he is not getting off with a free pass, as he has been suspended until the coming Monday and has since been relegated to the midnight shift.
State Rep. Kathy Sykes has spoken out about Jackson’s situation, noting that waving the Confederate flag in front of the museum is “almost like desecration.”
Sykes later praised officials for giving Jackson his job back.
“Hopefully in the future,” she said, “our employees won’t be subject to harassment on their job.”