Jackson, Mississippi, is currently in the throes of a water crisis. Part of this is because Mississippi has the highest poverty rate out of all 50 states, and another is because environmental racism is always eager to rear its ugly head. However, even though Mississippi's leadership is racist, you have to give them credit for being incompetent and evil, too.
Currently, Brett Favre is embroiled in a scandal in which he is accused of playing a major role in diverting federal money from Mississippi’s welfare funds. Ultimately, the money went to building a brand new volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi, his alma mater, and suspiciously where his daughter played volleyball.
A series of texts published by nonprofit newspaper Mississippi Today show Favre worked with government officials—including former governor Phil Bryant and a nonprofit educational organization led by Nancy New—to participate in a massive fraud conspiracy. Favre was apparently doing things like getting paid in excess of $1 million for speeches he never actually gave in order to clean money for a $5 million state-of-the-art volleyball building. Yet the plot is far more expansive than just one retired football player. A lawsuit in May was filed against 38 different people and organizations, seeking repayment of more than $24 million stolen from a program designed to assist needy families.
Aside from just general wickedness, this level of corruption is likely an ideological stand from people who hate poor people and despise Black folks as well. As noted earlier, Mississippi is the most impoverished state in this country. How rich, wealthy, and powerful people can steal from folks who have so little, well if there’s a hell, the Queen’s gonna keep a seat real hot for them.
A question we’ll have regarding how this is handled is whether Favre will face professional, personal, or legal consequences for his part. Whether he’ll face formal charges is up in the air. If you’re a sports fan, you know his legacy is a wildly folksy story shoveled down our throats—that of the tough, down-to-earth gunslinger. That needs to get thrown out the window now. This is even uglier than that thing he texted Jenn Sterger.
There is, however, a silver lining. At least Favre is supporting women’s sports. He can go be a girl dad in an orange jumpsuit, though.