I will never give up on Mississippi.
As long as there has been a Mississippi, it has been an oligarchy. Rich white men who profit from the labor of others, who exploit our natural resources, who sell us out to the higher bidder. During Reconstruction we saw a glimmer of what could be, but as soon as they possibly could, the oligarchs shut that down with a new constitution.
And yet.
As long as there has been a Mississippi, there has been a resistance movement to that oligarchy.
The most successful anti-fascist movement in the US in the last 100 years was birthed here, led from here, and was sustained here. Y’all study it in school and call it the Civil Rights movement.
Never mind that only 3% of national philanthropic dollars come to the South. Never mind that while being ruled by fascism, Mississippi gave you three distinct music forms, including the original protest music that they call the blues when it’s studied in school.
We lead the nation in creators of the written word, and learned how to create sustainable joy and political resistance while watching our babies die because of the zip code they live in. We took literal trash from the rich man’s table and turned it into cuisine that is the envy of the world.
Just imagine what we could do with some funding and help.
I watched a news commentator say that the US Senate race came “out of nowhere!”. Folks up north and out west are texting me, saying they never thought Mississippi would be in play like this.
But I am not surprised.
Because I know the deep truth: That the folks who live here with their backs against the wall are tenacious. I have sat in meetings of immigrants, working to take care of each other. I have listened as elderly Black men who had been beaten with chains in their youth by white Baptist Deacons explain what love of enemy means to them. I have watched people who worked all day in factories gather at night to learn how to organize their community to hold their politicians accountable. I have eaten food made by women who had no money but who turned scraps into sustenance, that gave them strength to fight another day.
I know these people, who love this place and each other and who have not moved away because this is their home, and they choose to fight for it, while East Coast liberals call us all inbred and stupid.
Mississippi may break your heart, but I am never surprised by the people here.
Never.