Current Jackson State football head coach T.C. Taylor was asked about the recent portrayal of the city in a 60 Minutes feature on former JSU head coach Deion Sanders.
Taylor is a former Jackson State football star as well as a McComb, MS native and he wasn’t thrilled with some of the imagery used in the piece, which aired on Sunday.
“It gave a bad look on Jackson, I thought. It did give a bad look on Jackson,” Taylor told the local media in his weekly session. “Jackson has plenty of bright spots. It’s some good things going on in the city, with this program, with Jackson State in itself.”
The piece was filmed in Boulder, CO and centered around Deion Sanders turning Colorado into the current center of the college football world. But it also touched on Sanders’ departure from Jackson State after two and a half seasons. Jon Wertheim said he pressed Sanders on his departure and that the Pro Football Hall of Famer was evasive as to why he left, but hinted at a ‘lack of forward-thinking.’
The interview included visuals that showed both Jackson and Boulder, CO. Many people took issue with the imagery of a run-down shotgun home to represent Jackson in contrast with affluent homes in Boulder.
Jackson State head women’s basketball coach Tomekia Reed was one of them.
“Y’all made Jackson, MS look horrible,” Reed tweeted. “You should be ashamed of yourselves for showing the worst house you can find in America and make it like that describes us. I’m not even sure if that abandoned house you showed is even in Jackson.”
Clearly, T.C. Taylor, who coached under Sanders, agrees.
“So when you see things like that and how they kind of portrayed it – they’re the media, they can control the narrative. But if you’re from here – you were born and raised here – you know what the City of Jackson is all about, as well as the state of Mississippi.