F**K You, Amite County, Mississippi

Where You Go to Find “The Sunken Place”

Amite County Courthouse -Mac H. Alford, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

I’ve never been to Amite County, Mississippi. The closest I’ve been is about 120 miles away while driving on Interstate-10 to New Orleans, and with any luck, I’ll never go. The County Seat is Liberty, with a population of about 700. Gloster is the largest town wholly within the county, with a population of around 1,200. Centreville is split between Amite County and Wilkinson County, and roughly 1,600 people live there. The entire County had 12,451 people at last count, and it isn’t a fit place to live.

Amite County is older, poorer, and less densely populated than Mississippi and the U.S. as a whole. One could say the County has retained its rural character and heritage. But in a county with 14 recorded lynchings, I don’t think that’s a plus. Rev. Isaac Simmons was lynched for his land in 1944. The white men who committed the lynching took possession of the land. The constable and sheriff concluded immediately that the Rev. Simmons had “met his death at the hands of parties unknown,” even though his son, Eldridge, and his daughter, Laura, were present and able to identify by name at least four of the six men responsible. One of the six men was ultimately tried but acquitted by an all-white jury for a lack of evidence.

A couple of years later, Black World War II veteran Eugene Bell was murdered after refusing to return to plantation labor. Bell served briefly in the Army before being released due to a heart condition. He didn’t return to Russ MacDowell’s farm, where he had previously sharedcropped. The white MacDowell told Bell:

“You didn’t stay with me and you didn’t stay with…[another man] and you didn’t stay in the Army, which means you’re no good…you will never die with your shoes off. You’re going to die like your old grandfather.”

Eugene Bell’s grandfather, Bow Bell, was whipped and beaten to death in 1893. The murderers of both Eugene and Bow Bell were known, but not prosecuted.

There has been a legacy of education in Amite County. The area has produced some fine local musicians and high school athletes. A quarter of the County’s jobs are tied to forestry, with manufacturing of wood products and agriculture close behind. All that activity could still take place if Amite County were wiped off the map and the land absorbed into other counties.

Justice is still elusive in Amite County. On April 6, 2025, 10-year-old Jordan Hill was riding an ATV in a grassy area near a road. A white driver in a pickup truck, Cody Rollinson, ran Jordan over and left the scene. He later returned, allegedly to retrieve a broken mirror from his truck. Rollinson was arrested later that day. He was charged with two felonies:

1. Aggravated DUI

2. Felony leaving the scene of an accident

Of note are the charges Rollinson could have faced in Mississippi, but didn’t. Mississippi does not have a vehicular manslaughter charge.

1. DUI Manslaughter

2. Culpable-Negligence Manslaughter

3. Second-Degree “Depraved Heart” Murder

When Rollinson went to trial, it seemed like his guilt was a mere formality. He was charged with Aggravated DUI, and a toxicology report was submitted, but it was reported as “not yet returned” several months after the trial. Rollinson faced an additional charge of possession of marijuana in a motor vehicle when arrested, but no mention of that charge was made at the trial. Still, it seems Rollinson was high at the time of the accident and still high when arrested.

It is undisputed that Rollinson left the scene of the accident, leaving Jordan Hill dying on the side of the road. Rollinson said he left because he couldn’t get a cell phone signal to call 911. The thing is, he never called 911 after leaving. Jordan Hill might have lived had Rollinson actually made that call.

Much has been made of the fact that when on his way into court, a bystander yelled at Rollinson, asking, “Do you have anything to say to the family,” and Rollinson spat in their general direction. I say that suggests Rollinson is a despicable human being, but I make no more of it than that. The important thing was the verdict and sentence.

After less than an hour, the jury in the 60% white county found Rollinson not guilty on both charges. Mississippi courts rarely release demographic information about juries, so we don’t know if it was all-white like the one that freed one of Rev. Isaac Simmons’s killers. Assuming the prosecutors presented evidence that Rollinson was impaired and everyone stipulated he left the scene, the only way to find him innocent is to ignore the facts. They ignored that Rollinson left ten-year-old Jordan Hill to die on the side of the road while he drove away.

Amite County was founded in 1809, and its most consistent contribution to society has been injustice. The Black citizens should leave because Amite County truly is the sunken place. No good has ever awaited you there. White people should leave because it is no place to raise their children. Amite County isn’t a place you stay; it’s a place you escape from. Everyone should just get out, looking back once to say, “F**k you, Amite County!”