On Friday, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill that unduly removed elected judges from their positions in Jackson, a majority-Black city.

The legislation creates a temporary court system that will be run by state-appointed judges and prosecutors, who will take on cases brought to them by the city's Capitol Police — a force that is not beholden to local policies.

In 2020, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba issued an order that banned chokeholds, and mandated de-escalation techniques. As part of the state Public Safety Department, the Capitol Police are not subject to city policies, and do not equip their officers with body cameras. Last year, officers shot four Jackson residents with no public explanation, according to NBC.

The NAACP has since filed a lawsuit against Reeves and his administration for targeting the city in a move that effectively stripped citizens of their voting power, stating that the laws “radically and unconstitutionally circumscribe the ability of Jackson’s singled-out, majority-Black residents to live as full citizens with full rights in their own city."

"In violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, these laws target Jackson’s majority-Black residents on the basis of race for a separate and unequal policing structure and criminal justice system to which no other residents of the State are subjected," the lawsuit reads.

Reeves said in a statement that the policies were meant to crackdown on crime in the city, and denied the racism claims driven by “liberal activists” and “the national media."

Jackson is 80 percent Black, and its city council is also majority Black. They currently have a Black governor, and all four elected judges in the city's district of Hinds County are Black. The city has long fought to replace their pipes and update their infrastructure as an ongoing water crisis has left many residents without clean water.

Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP and longtime Jackson resident, said via NBC that Mississippi government should be more concerned with the issues impacting residents every day, and not simply investing more into law enforcement.

“Our goal is to ensure that the citizens of Jackson are not treated like second-class citizens, that the city is not singled out as a pariah and that the citizens can be assured that they have safe, clean drinking water, can elect the candidates of their choice, and have a law enforcement agency that is supportive — not demanding to take over," he said. "That’s how democracy works.”