rcj@burl.UUCP (R. Curtis Jackson) (09/21/83)
A few weeks ago, I asked for people to send me their impressions of
Mississippi (my home state). Responses were pretty much what I had
expected -- but people were very nice and most gave disclaimers like
"I'm sure it's not really this way" or "I'm sure it has changed a
lot since I was there in 196x", etc. Anyway, responses are summarized
below by request (popular demand?):
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I usually think of people in pickup trucks with gun racks in them chewing
tobacco and saying "nigger".
I don't think Mississippi gets very good PR, 'cause I know almost
nothing about it. I always think of the river when I hear "Mississippi"
unless the speaker is very careful to stress he's talking about the
state. In any case, someone once told me that Miss. was by far the
poorest state in the nation. I have no idea if it's true or not being
too lazy to look it up for myself, but that's usually what I associate
with the state. I once drove through Miss. on I-10, but didn't see
anything noteworthy (the whole eastern U.S. has this problem with
trees blocking the view [NOTE from rcj: the author of this response is
originally from Arizona]). Of course driving through a state seldom
gives you much info on it. I understand there is a University there
which is often called ol' Miss, and that people from there usually say
that with reverence. I think the football team from ol' Miss is well
know, but I don't follow football much myself so that hasn't affected
me. Well, that's about it.
Due to my recent drive from New Orleans to Biloxi to Memphis, I have
a not-totally-uninformed view of Mississippi of a very green state with
beautiful black water rivers and streams. I don't think much of Biloxi,
especially that killer highway, though.
When I hear the name Mississippi, I think of all the vile things (prejudice,
lynchings,murder,discrimination,poverty,ignorance,etc.) that I saw when I
visited Mississippi. I personally think that one should have to have a
passport to enter the place (make it a foreign country).
Phil Oaks (a hippie-type protester/folk-song writer/singer)
recorded a record in the mid '60s with a song entitled
"Here's to the land of Mississippi" (or something like that).
In it, he sings about Mississippi's socio-economic status
and quality of life (generally 50th out of 50 states).
THAT'S what I think of Mississippi.
(I have never been to the gulf area of Mississippi,
but I have been through the northern part of the state
and was not favorably impressed - in fact, somewhat depressed.
And just to prove I'm not biased, my family/ancestors are from Arkansas).
I tend to think of a backwards, racist state, full of good-old boys
and dangerously stupid county law-enforcement officials.
I suppose I am very wrong, but that's how I'd respond if I saw
a Mississippi-shaped ink blot.
I've always considered Mississippi to be a backwoods, stars and bars,
redneck heaven. Beergutted, crewcutted (with longsideburns), black
plastic glasses, and baseball caps with ads for Skoal or Massey-Ferguson
on them. Ugly women with no teeth.
I think of spelling tests.
If I think a little more, the only thing I know about Mississippi
or associate with it is "deep South --> prejudice --> KKK presence".
Hot, humid.
Army or Air Force bases (Navy too?).
How the Tennessee Vols fall apart whenever they play Old Miss or
State IN Mississippi.
How much I hated Archie Manning (Who?).
My drafting teacher in college who came from Mississippi and how much
I hated him.
First black admitted to a white college (I think).
Well, I think about the day in 1966 when I saw four 18-20 year old
punks slam a 16 year old negro kid into a wall and kick him in the
ribs. I also remember with great clarity explaining to the local cops
why Oberleft. Schmidt and I proceeded to stop our car, get out, and
tell the thugs to stop. When they attacked, I am sorry to say that
in the ensuing brawl, they were severly injured, as Schmidt also
was an unarmed combat instructor for the UDF (I think that is the initials)
the West German Defence force... Very sad.
I was also amazed at the cop telling us that we could be arrested for
assault. We left town, the 16 year old kid had a major concussion,
and we still consider Mississippi the armpit of all the parts of the
states that we saw...
When I think of Miss., I think of my ROTC stay at Keesler AFB in the
summer of 1968. I also remember that Keesler won several awards
for having superb recreational facilities; the rumor was that this
was to keep the airmen on base where they wouldn't get fleeced,
bamboozled, and mugged by the citizens of Biloxi. I DO remember an
orientation session our first day in which we were handed a list
of approximately 300 places that were off limits in Biloxi/Gulfport,
and where we were told to go in groups of at least 6 whenever we were
off base at night.
I do remember the beautiful beaches, though, which (when we could get
off base) were a favorite place to just hang out. It did seem that
there were no women in Biloxi between the ages of 12 and 45, but this
might have been the result of over stimulated male hormones in 500
20-year olds who were cooped up on an AFB for weeks on end.
Finally, I remember that I saw no blacks down by the beaches (unless
they were ROTC cadets accompanied by many white cadets). Once on
a ride we got lost and ran into a black neighborhood about 11 blocks
back from the beach; it sure wasn't as nice as the white neighborhoods.
A backward, poor underdevloped state with tremendous disparities of
wealth and a lot of racism.
Gee, Curtis, I hope you're not sorry you asked, but here goes (no offense
intended).
What Mississippi Means to Me by etc.
------------------------------------
1) The Land of Racial Prejudice.
2) The Home of George Wallace.
3) The easiest state name to remember how to spell
4) The final end of the mighty river.
5) And, therefore, oldtyme riverboats.
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--
The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3814 (Cornet 291)
alias: Curtis Jackson ...![ floyd sb1 mhuxv ]!burl!rcjjsq@ut-sally.UUCP (09/23/83)
Do we really need to propagate this sort of misinformed bigotry
on the net (George Wallace is from Alabama, for instance)?
Especially about a state that's not represented on the net
so it can't defend itself?
Flamers: I'm not saying that many of the incidents referred
to didn't happen, or even that the reputation of the state as
shown by the poll may not be correct. However, there was certainly
a large amount of plain prejudice and misinformation. In any case
what possible good does something like this do?
--
John Quarterman, CS Dept., University of Texas, Austin, Texas
{ihnp4,kpno,ut-ngp}!ut-sally!jsq, jsq@ut-sally.{ARPA,UUCP}padpowell@wateng.UUCP (PAD Powell[Admin]) (09/27/83)
Well, I was down to Mississippi this summer, and I was very surprised at the changes there. In terms of social structure, there was a tremendous change... I would say that the climate would resemble that of Detroit currently. However, I found that there was a tremendous amount of bigotry in various industrial/academic areas. I use the word "bigotry" specifically. This was not really restricted to black/white relations, but also to any other non-native ethnic group (Mexicans, Jews, Arabs, Italians, etc.). I was also a little shocked to find the incidence of KKK violence was on the upswing. According to an FBI type, the local authorities in some areas have been ignoring violent attacks on blacks. His personal opinion is that there is going to be a violent backlash from the black communities, and Mississippi is going to be in the headlines in the near future. My personal feeling is that reforms have been made, and there are tremendous efforts in trying to change the structure. However, it is difficult to overcome the accumulation of generations of hate in a decade. I was also surprised to see the Mississippi river has steam boats on it! Mark Twain still lives. Patrick Powell