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Don't reply to a story of mine about Mississippi racism with, "Well, it IS Mississippi, so..."
I don't report these stories so smug Californians/Michiganders et al., can hop on a high horse & look down on the Blackest state. I do it to make MS better.
Try that in your state.
I don't report these stories so smug Californians/Michiganders et al., can hop on a high horse & look down on the Blackest state. I do it to make MS better.
Try that in your state.
Cause I promise y'all's states all have racism too—all 49 of them. Mississippi is just a mirror for the rest of America, but lots of folks like to pretend it's a window to some separate land. It isn't.
Honestly, the soft bigotry of low expectations is just plain old bigotry. And it's damaging.
And when directed at Mississippi? It's racist. Bc the people hurt by it are the almost 4 in 10 Mississippians who are Black that get written out of the story in favor of white racists.
And when directed at Mississippi? It's racist. Bc the people hurt by it are the almost 4 in 10 Mississippians who are Black that get written out of the story in favor of white racists.
Dr. Martin Luther King, 1966: "I have never seen, even in Mississippi and Alabama, mobs as hateful as I’ve seen here in Chicago. Yes, it’s definitely a closed society.” https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-mlk-chicago-20160118-story.html
By the way, my thread isn't about excusing Mississippi from accountability for racism. Confronting racism is an immensely important part of journalism work here.
Follow @MSFreePress for more, and check out some of my stories on race here (below).
Follow @MSFreePress for more, and check out some of my stories on race here (below).
I reported on how dozens of Oak Grove High students banded together to fight institutional racism.
OGHS is now diverse, but used to be 90%+ white. Oak Grove was a suburban white flight haven in the 70s-90s as white parents fled Hattiesburg integration. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/5625/good-trouble-in-a-white-flight-suburb-oak-grove-high-kids-confront-racism/
OGHS is now diverse, but used to be 90%+ white. Oak Grove was a suburban white flight haven in the 70s-90s as white parents fled Hattiesburg integration. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/5625/good-trouble-in-a-white-flight-suburb-oak-grove-high-kids-confront-racism/
The kind of reckoning that historic white flight school is facing is not unique to Mississippi, nor is white flight and de facto segregation (see NYC). White flight happened (and still happens) all across America even as old white flight schools diversify. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/5625/good-trouble-in-a-white-flight-suburb-oak-grove-high-kids-confront-racism/
I also reported on the history of the University of Southern Mississippi, and how important buildings on campus (including the football stadium and field!) are still named for segregationists and white supremacists. The school has a Black president today. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/5542/protesting-racism-usm-football-players-march-from-stadium-named-for-segregationist/
Also at @MSFreePress, @DonnerKay reported on her alma mater's racist history and the reckoning that still lies ahead. (Just because a university isn't named a term that southerners used in the 1800s for enslaved Black women doesn't mean it's racism free). https://www.mississippifreepress.org/4650/mississippi-state-starkville-stand-up-to-racism-but-historic-reckoning-still-ahead/
Then there is my #UMemails investigation, which revealed how University officials who denounce racism publicly will, behind the scenes, coddle wealthy donors and alumni's overt racism—often while quelling students and faculty members' demands for change. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/4876/the-fabric-is-torn-in-oxford-um-officials-decried-racism-publicly-coddled-it-privately/
The three-part #UMemails investigative series is a deep dive not only into thousands of recent email conversations between university leaders & wealthy donors who want to keep the Old South atmosphere alive, but a dive into how that history informs today. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/4950/the-ole-miss-we-know-wealthy-alums-fight-to-keep-ums-past-alive/
The dean at the center of many of those emails resigned after a public records request all but ensured the emails would go public.
Sources said some faculty feared speaking up, citing a "culture of secrecy" & fears of "witch hunts" against whistleblowers. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/5004/ums-culture-of-secrecy-dean-quit-as-emails-disparaging-to-gay-alum-black-students-emerged/
Sources said some faculty feared speaking up, citing a "culture of secrecy" & fears of "witch hunts" against whistleblowers. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/5004/ums-culture-of-secrecy-dean-quit-as-emails-disparaging-to-gay-alum-black-students-emerged/
We just reported that, while the former dean implicated in the emails kept his monthly dean pay despite only being a professor now (& not teaching), the whistleblowers who came to us are under investigation for allegedly creating a "hostile workplace." https://www.mississippifreepress.org/7134/um-probes-whistleblowers-who-exposed-racist-emails-as-ex-dean-keeps-18000-monthly-salary/
So we absolutely understand that there is plenty of racism and accountability to be had for it in MS. We want to expose it and find solutions.
This kind of work needs to happen in every state.
This kind of work needs to happen in every state.
One thing that really struck me about the response to the UM emails investigation was just how many college & university faculty around the country responded by saying it reminded them of issues on their own campuses not named "Ole Miss" that weren't being covered or reported on.
I hope citizens, leaders & journalists in every state work to reckon with their own history of racism & its legacy the way we try to do at @MSFreePress. I promise it's there.
To cap this off, here's a plug. If you support the work we do at MFP to uncover & reckon with racism & to hopefully forge a better future, please consider supporting us with a one-time or recurring donation to paywall-free, non-profit journalism at http://mfp.ms/donate .
