Came across this in The Week, 3/7/14, in their "Only In America" section:
More than 50 years after James Meredith became the first black student at the University of Mississippi, three white students have been accused of hanging a noose and a Confederate battle sign on a campus statue of the civil rights hero... and (After President Obama's re-election) a large crowd gathered on the Ole Miss campus to protest President Obama's re-election, shouting racial slurs.
I dunno why, but that just struck me in a really bad way (I mean, I know why, but why just those examples, and why now?) but it did. I found myself really pissed, which led me to consider what I know about Miss'ippi, and led me to a little research. Not surprisingly, it's essentially a Third-World country economically, in terms of its citizens' health, and, obviously, educationally and attitudinally.
Mississippi is the poorest state in the US, with around 35% of the population living in poverty. Romania, the poorest nation in the developed world, has a poverty rate of 24%. Mississippi is the fattest state, with a rate of 32.5% of adults (and almost 40% of children) considered clinically obese. Mississippi is one of numerous Republican-led states which have refused to officially participate in the Affordable Care Act. Fattenin' 'em for market, perhaps?
Between 1882 and 1968, there were over 4700 lynchings in the US. Guess who led the way? Yep; 42 white (one presumes that they were nigger lovers) and 539 (Georgia was next with 492) black, or 16% of the total. And in 1964, of course, the murder of 3 Freedom Riders (one black, two white), which the State of Mississippi refused to prosecute, forcing the Federal Government to do so, was a primary impetus to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. P'raps it's true that some good comes out of even the worst events. Although, as the bit from The Week shows, little has really changed in Miss'ippi itself, and yet it's just as much a state as any other in this Greatest Of All Countries, Ever (right, Dr. Pangloss?) Ah, we should'a just let 'em all go their own way when they wanted to.
On the up side, there's a lot of really good Miss'ippi-themed music, to wit:
Down In Mississippi Mavis Staples
Down in Mississippi Ry Cooder
Down In Mississippi Pinetop Perkins
In The Mississippi River Mavis Staples
Miss The Mississippi Dylan
Miss The Mississippi And You Arlo Guthrie
Mississippi Dylan
Mississippi John Phillips
Mississippi-Mali Blues Taj Mahal & Toumani Diabate
Mississippi Blues David Bromberg
Mississippi Bottom Blues Rory Block
Mississippi Freight Train, Pts. 1&2 James Cotton
Here's To The State Of Mississippi Phil Ochs
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleoo Grateful Dead
Mississippi Goddam Nina Simone
Mississippi Kid Lynyrd Skynyrd
Mississippi Moon Seatrain
Mississippi Muddy Water Maria Muldaur
Mississippi Nights Mark Egan
Mississippi Queen Mountain
Mississippi You're On My Mind Jerry Jeff Walker
Mississippi You're On My Mind Jesse Winchester
My Head's In Mississippi ZZ Top
Nitty Gritty Mississippi Ry Cooder
Skippin' In The Mississippi Dew John Hartford
The Waltz Of The Mississippi John Hartford
Strange Fruit Cassandra Wilson
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