Posted on 12/05/2006 5:42:24 AM PST by WKB
LOL he looks like one of those good ole boys
Will you add me to your MS ping list, please? Thanks!
Of all the cities in all the states, you picked the right one. I have been to the south, all over, and i believe there is more racism in Ohio and the surrounding states than any of the southern states i've spent time in, which is all of them.
Long post, please bear with me.I was stationed at the CBC Gulfport base. I loved the Gulf Coast. Some of the blacks (they weren't from or never lived in the South) who were in interracial relationships said they were worried initially when they got orders to come to Mississippi. Some said it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be.
However, one white woman who is married to a black servicemember said that when she went to the Three Little Pigs BBQ place in Hattiesburg they received a lot of dirty looks from the locals in there. Some of the blacks (they were mostly from places like Seattle and San Fran) from one particular battalions would say don't get caught north of Hattiesburg after 6pm or the Klan may get you. At my first command was at a regiment at CBC Gulfport, my particular group consisted of 14 service members. I was an E-1 at a group with men E-5 thru E-8, the only female and 1 of only 3 blacks in the entire group. The other 10 white guys were from MS, AL, or GA and were what most people would consider rednecks. I will confess I was little worried at first being the only female and so junior to everyone else. But that ended up being my favorite command. Those guys were like big brothers to me, if I had any problem they were the first ones there to help. I was sick in the hospital and they came with get-well cards. One of the chief's favorite things to tell me was "I have been in the Navy longer than you have been born". I miss them they were true good Southern men.
In my history class we have a lot of foreign students. We had to read Ann Moody's book Coming of Age in Mississippi. Yesterday we had a discussion on it and some of the students said the book made them cry. One Puerto Rican girl said that she would gladly spit on their graves. I tried to explain to her that everyone in MS is not like that. One girl from MS said that in the 1980's some people in MS were trying to get autographs from the guy who killed Medgar Evers.
What makes it worse is that some people from that era are still living, so it makes it seem more recent then it actually is. No one alive can give us first hand accounts of what happened during 1850's, yes we can read it but it is nothing like being there. But with this you have people who can give you first hand accounts of the type of stuff that happened. My great aunt was born in 1914 and died in Sep 2001. She was like a history book for me and was surprised that she could recall many events that took place during that time (she lived in Mississippi, but left in the 1950's and moved to Louisiana).
Personally I think it is going to take a long time for MS to erase that image they have. I have to give MS credit they have worked hard to erase the image, but a lot of people from that era are still living. Not saying I would like all of them to die, it will some time for some individuals to change their opinion of MS.
My late brother, died in Jackson back in 2003. Beautiful state in March.
When he first moved to Mississippi in 1999, he resented it when his co-workers called him 'Yankee'. He was born and raised in Washington state, and had many ancestors that fought for the South out of Missouri.
Mattered not. He was an outsider, he was a Yank.
Oh, that's just priceless!! I wondered who was the brainchild of that Mississippi, Believe It! campaign. I think it's wonderful!!
Charlie Rangel: "Who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?" (..Said the Man From Harlem!!)
*snort* I had that experience in New Jersey! One of my neighbors, when she found out I was from MS, asked "aren't there a lot of racists there?". I told her that I'd observed, after living in NJ for a couple of years, that MS didn't hold a candle to NJ in the racism department. In MS, there was mostly black/white racism. In NJ, it was black/white, Catholic/Protestant, Polish/German, Christian/Jewish and just about any other ethnic variety you could imagine.
Folks haven't rebuilt homes because it has taken so long for the govt. to decide what are the new flood height requirements. Now for most folks that may not be a problem, but folks in those areas that flooded, that were not formerly considered flood zones, it IS a problem. They can't rebuild until they are certain of the levels because they want to be able to be sure they can get flood insurance! They don't want to rebuild on a slab, then find out they are required to be at least 3' off the ground in order to get flood insurance at a reasonable rate.
There are a lot of things going on, of which folks who don't live in the area are not aware, but make it look as though folks aren't working hard enough to re-build. I'm sure some of that is happening in New Orleans, too, though the overall attitudes are different from those of folks on the MS and AL Gulf Coasts.
There's more racism in Boston than in all of Mississippi.
Where did a 12 year old get the idea about the KKK? Just curious.
I was stationed in Bolxi for a while
Went to the beach to swim, saw a nice young lady and said "hi".
She sniffed and told me "I don't talk to Yankees"
I told her I was originally from Tucson, part of the Gadsden Purchase and that part of the world was technically in Mexico during the war between the states.
(actually the GP was picked up in 1854, but hey, it sounds good).
She looked back at me, sniffed and said -
"Well, I don't talk to Mexicans either".
There have been, and will always be, racists in MS. What's hard to get people to understand is that most people are not like that. Folks are going on assumptions formed by the media, TV, films and books like the one you read in class, which play to dramatic situations.
Anybody who expects Yankees to ever stop being jerks and retards about the South is a fool.
"Looser's campaign - "Mississippi, Believe It!"
I've wondered who has the brilliant mind to came up with this campaign.
God bless him...
"People think that the Klan and white supremacist groups in general are Southern artifacts, but that simply is not the truth," he said. "We see as many hate groups, and certainly as many hate crimes, in Northern and even coastal states. It's a cliche that has some residual truth, but essentially doesn't describe the situation as it is anymore."
Knock me over with a feather...
He should not be worried about what the elitist New England residents think, fools would still be fools, no need for that money to be spent on changing such attitudes.
Hey, you!
Long time, no see!
I hope you are doing well.
As a Northern New Jerseyite, I can say that most people in my surroundings have an astounding amount of ignorance for just about everything, especially gun rights and hunting, conservative values, and current events. I guess that's what happens when 70 % of the People's Democratic Republic of New Jersey believe and do everything in lockstep with the Corzine/Menendez administration. By all accounts, I should be locked up in a gulag by now.
Hey you, too!
It's very good to see you!
"I wondered who was the brainchild of that Mississippi, Believe It! campaign. I think it's wonderful!!"
I had wondered the same thing.
I think it's fantastic!
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