'Mississippi sheriffs wield a tremendous authority in the counties they police'

'Mississippi "Goon Squad" didn't come out of nowhere' The torture of two Black men by white Rankin County, Mississippi, sheriff's deputies in the self-named "Goon Squad" was "horrific," says Grace Elizabeth Hale. But abuse under all-powerful Mississippi sheriffs "is not a new problem." Local law enforcement in the state grew out of wars against Native American tribes and the "slave patrols, loosely organized groups of white men set up to keep Black people in bondage." Many still treat "the law as a kind of personal power." Escape your echo chamber....