At least they didn't list MS as #1
http://gawker.com/5834800/the-worst-50-states-in-america-the-final-five
I know this is tongue-in-cheek and all, but...
I am sick and tired of that word.
What do people think of when they think of Mississippi?
Racism.
As if the Hospitality State somehow owns the concept.
As if White Mississippians hating Black Mississippians is just the norm.
As if White against Black is the only type of racism there is.
Well, listen up, California and Texas - I have lived among you for long enough to tell you this with absolute certainty, and I imagine it goes for plenty other states as well:
When it comes to racism, Mississippi ain't got nothin' you ain't got.
I'll grant you, there are still some questionable policies on the books left over from the older generations of Mississippians trying to forcibly integrate. In the article above, they link to a school that just chucked an old policy that the class president must always be White while the vice president must always be Black. Such a policy is not only outdated but ridiculous and narrow-sighted (What about Latinos, Asian-Americans, multi-cultural students, etc.? What if the students want to vote for an African-American student as president and a caucasian student as VP?), and surely it was well past it's expiration date. I recall, in my teens, our main public high school got rid of an old policy that gave us two homecoming courts. Typically the problem behind these policies is the idea that somehow one race or another is being given a fair chance against a racial majority. As if we need to have separate courts because there will never be a White queen in a mostly-Black school, or a Black Vice President because otherwise who will vote for them? As if, while choosing titles in high school, kids will only vote for people of their own race. And as if that somehow entitles the minority to greater representation.
What I want to emphasize for you here is (a) these policies are being done away with, and have been disappearing steadily for decades, and (b) if this doesn't remind you of Equal Opportunity Employment*, I don't know what will.
But I digress. What I really wanted to say was that, in Mississippi, Whites and Blacks go to school together, work together, shop together, eat together, live next door to each other, and they do it all without alarm bells going off every time they see one another. It's commonplace. We don't even notice it unless there's a vast majority of one or the other, and even then it's not hostile. This is a state that is aware of her tumultuous past and is trying hard to recover from it. (See how well the KKK is doing these days in Dixie. The best part is, I am told the Klan claimed it was a freedom of speech issue, not a race thing; never mind they call themselves the Mississippi White Knights.†)
But let's step away from this "Black and White" mentality and look at a couple states that have another population. How many times, California, have you written off a bad driver as an "Asian woman" or a "Mexican?" And Texas, isn't there a grocery store you avoid because of "all the Mexicans?"
This sort of racism pisses me off because you don't even see that you're doing it. You tell them to learn English. If you get in an argument with one, you tell them they should go "home" if they don't like it in this country. Never mind that they are from Chile, not Mexico, and they have called the US home for fifteen years, and not only are they mostly fluent in English but they have a graduate degree in biochemistry from their home country. And how many countries in Asia can you even name?
For that matter, let me point out one last thing about Mississippi. It's got a terrible reputation for education, yes? Well, I learned all my states and capitals in sixth grade. And, sophomore year of college, when I told a classmate where I was from, the Californian said, "Oh, Mississippi! That's close to Colorado, right?"
No. Neither is Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts... I can only assume he was thinking Missouri, and that's only as close to Colorado as - get this - California is to Texas.
*Note: I don't necessarily oppose EOE, but it certainly says something about what EOOs believe about human nature and Color-blindness, doesn't it?
†Note: There are some videos on the Klan article that personally give me the shivers. I believe heartily in fighting hate with love, but I don't know how to convince a couple hundred people who hate that particular symbol of hatred that they should, I don't know, share a big, multi-racial hug or something rather than shout obscenities. It certainly gets the message across about today's youth not being on board with that mentality. And opposing a race is on a different level from opposing an exclusionary organization. But hate is hate.
P.S. They do have a point about a general homophobia in the state but, sadly, MS isn't alone in that respect either. The good news is I think this is the New Racism, and it's only a matter of time before we've conquered that issue, too.
I know this is tongue-in-cheek and all, but...
I am sick and tired of that word.
What do people think of when they think of Mississippi?
Racism.
As if the Hospitality State somehow owns the concept.
As if White Mississippians hating Black Mississippians is just the norm.
As if White against Black is the only type of racism there is.
Well, listen up, California and Texas - I have lived among you for long enough to tell you this with absolute certainty, and I imagine it goes for plenty other states as well:
When it comes to racism, Mississippi ain't got nothin' you ain't got.
I'll grant you, there are still some questionable policies on the books left over from the older generations of Mississippians trying to forcibly integrate. In the article above, they link to a school that just chucked an old policy that the class president must always be White while the vice president must always be Black. Such a policy is not only outdated but ridiculous and narrow-sighted (What about Latinos, Asian-Americans, multi-cultural students, etc.? What if the students want to vote for an African-American student as president and a caucasian student as VP?), and surely it was well past it's expiration date. I recall, in my teens, our main public high school got rid of an old policy that gave us two homecoming courts. Typically the problem behind these policies is the idea that somehow one race or another is being given a fair chance against a racial majority. As if we need to have separate courts because there will never be a White queen in a mostly-Black school, or a Black Vice President because otherwise who will vote for them? As if, while choosing titles in high school, kids will only vote for people of their own race. And as if that somehow entitles the minority to greater representation.
What I want to emphasize for you here is (a) these policies are being done away with, and have been disappearing steadily for decades, and (b) if this doesn't remind you of Equal Opportunity Employment*, I don't know what will.
But I digress. What I really wanted to say was that, in Mississippi, Whites and Blacks go to school together, work together, shop together, eat together, live next door to each other, and they do it all without alarm bells going off every time they see one another. It's commonplace. We don't even notice it unless there's a vast majority of one or the other, and even then it's not hostile. This is a state that is aware of her tumultuous past and is trying hard to recover from it. (See how well the KKK is doing these days in Dixie. The best part is, I am told the Klan claimed it was a freedom of speech issue, not a race thing; never mind they call themselves the Mississippi White Knights.†)
But let's step away from this "Black and White" mentality and look at a couple states that have another population. How many times, California, have you written off a bad driver as an "Asian woman" or a "Mexican?" And Texas, isn't there a grocery store you avoid because of "all the Mexicans?"
This sort of racism pisses me off because you don't even see that you're doing it. You tell them to learn English. If you get in an argument with one, you tell them they should go "home" if they don't like it in this country. Never mind that they are from Chile, not Mexico, and they have called the US home for fifteen years, and not only are they mostly fluent in English but they have a graduate degree in biochemistry from their home country. And how many countries in Asia can you even name?
For that matter, let me point out one last thing about Mississippi. It's got a terrible reputation for education, yes? Well, I learned all my states and capitals in sixth grade. And, sophomore year of college, when I told a classmate where I was from, the Californian said, "Oh, Mississippi! That's close to Colorado, right?"
No. Neither is Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts... I can only assume he was thinking Missouri, and that's only as close to Colorado as - get this - California is to Texas.
*Note: I don't necessarily oppose EOE, but it certainly says something about what EOOs believe about human nature and Color-blindness, doesn't it?
†Note: There are some videos on the Klan article that personally give me the shivers. I believe heartily in fighting hate with love, but I don't know how to convince a couple hundred people who hate that particular symbol of hatred that they should, I don't know, share a big, multi-racial hug or something rather than shout obscenities. It certainly gets the message across about today's youth not being on board with that mentality. And opposing a race is on a different level from opposing an exclusionary organization. But hate is hate.
P.S. They do have a point about a general homophobia in the state but, sadly, MS isn't alone in that respect either. The good news is I think this is the New Racism, and it's only a matter of time before we've conquered that issue, too.