Social Stratification in the Deep South

I have to start this by saying I have NEVER seen this much farmland in my life: cotton fields, rice fields, corn fields, catfish ponds, etc, etc, etc. The Mississippi Delta definitely is agricultural country. Along with its agriculture, Miss. is also famous for Blues music. There are so many names beyond the legendary B.B. King associated with the explosion of Blues music in the Delta and fortunately a historic Blues trail is in the works. I grew up watching the movie The Color Purple where Shug Avery used to sing at Harpo’s Jook Joint but never in a million years did it cross my mind that such places still existed. Well, yesterday not only did I find out such a place still exists, I actually got to experience a night at Po Monkey’s Jook Joint in Merigold, MS and I felt like I was in a scene right out of the movie. It is great to see that this place that was historically created to provide some entertainment and escape for black sharecroppers is still thriving and draws in a more integrated, age-varying crowd.

Today was quite a transition from the upbeat, toe-tapping fun experienced at the Jook Joint. We went to Parchman, the maximum security pentitiary in the state of Miss. Let me just say that if the words by Nat King Cole, “straighten up and fly right,” never meant anything to you, they truly will after experiencing a little time at Parchman. I hate comparing reality to movies, but oddly enough the condition for prisoners presented in the movie Life with Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence display a pretty good depiction of southern prison life that functions with an on-site agricultural economy. Of course, Murphy and Lawrence got to take a nice shower, change clothes and eat a good meal after filming a few scenes; this “luxury” is definitely not the case for Parchman inmates.

These are the powerful words inscribed on a t-shirt in a gift shop in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Bourbon Street. The breach of the levees (yes, plural) in New Orleans led to mounds of destruction and death. Water rushed in from multiple canals and the Miss. River through the streets and into houses taking the lives of many who did not expect such a surge, literally moving houses down the streets on top of other houses (and you can still see that image here , I stood right in front of such a scenario today). I walked through the Lower 9th Ward and it is a veritable ghost town. There are some houses standing, but most are nowhere near liveable. They all have spray-painting on them relaying if a certain structure is toxic, how many people died in it, and how many pets died in it.

Walking down the street I tried to envision how this neighborhood was before Katrina. How many brothers, mothers, uncles, cousins, nieces lived in a close-knit community blocks away from one another? How many senior citizens lived in these houses and sat out on the front stoop telling younger people stories of the past? How many kids rode their bikes through the area and played basketball in the streets? These are of New Orleans may have been poor before the storm, but one thing I am sure was there before the storm was life. A life that was lived day by day unaware of the weak levee system “protecting” their neighborhood. Water rushed in from 3 angles into this community and one thing that is barely present 2 years later is life.

My computer has been a moody little something back at the hotel so I am going to make sure I do my blog now in the Hancock Co. Library. I spent the morning with my team (Antonio and Teresa) sorting through the library’s news articles (dating back to the 1970’s) and then filing them. Here and there I would stop and read through some of the articles. I saw where many of the smiling faces of the Hancock Co. library were featured in numerous articles and spotlighting for all of their hard and excellent workd. They even got honored at the White House! I saw an article about rising gas prices in the late 90’s (if we only knew $2.50 a gallon would ever be considered cheap) pictures recounting 9/11 and of course, pictures recounting and still recounting Katrina. I found an article from the late 90’s detailing what a Hurricane was and how it is formed and going through some of the strongest ones from Camille to Andrew. These names all sound like cousins or nieces or brothers in our family, but they carry such a greater connotation when the word “Hurricane” is put in front.

Right now, I am preparing to do my groups 2nd oral history interview for the day. The generosity of the people here at Hancock Co. Library to not only open their facilities (and provide breakfast and lunch and snacks) to us but also their stories is amazing. If you ever want to see strength personified, come down to Bay St. Louis to meet these people. And you can also check some of these people and their diaries. As one of the employees said today, don’t forgot about them.

While visiting with the friendly folks at Hancock County Library today, I end this day still trying to envision this place under so much water and wind that was the cause of so much structural damage that I actually saw with my own eyes today. Hearing their stories and watching the videos gave me an idea as to what happened in this town of Bay St. Louis, MS but actually the experience riding around town and seeing only foundations where houses and businesses once stood cannot really be put into words. A natural disaster that led to the seemingly “unnatural:” water higher than 38 feet, nothing but stairs left on a structure, boats carried OVER very high-standing trees, people living in tents for two year. THANK YOU to the people of Hancock County Library for teaching me a lesson today; true foundations are not under our buildings but it rests in people’s will. It’s in people’s will to carry on in spite of and not only for themselves but for the entire community.

So many questions come from hearing the different accounts of pre and post Katrina aftermath in the Gulf Coast. How can insurance companies really turn their backs on loyal clients who have been paying on their policies for year? Is there really any need to debate whether wind or water damage damaged the house when the structure is destroyed? At the end of the day, these insurance companies are nothing but capitalistic machines turned monopolies since the citizens in these devastated areas have no other recourse for insurance.

This talk of Hurriance aftermath may seem like a departure from the last couple of days from Civil Rights and equal opportunity but indeed it is not. Some people could not afford an insurance policy before the storm and some could not afford to evacuate even with the knowledge that a storm was coming. Renters came back to find their apartments and homes demolished with no alternative but to cut their losses and start over from zero. The storm damage did not discriminate based on race, class or gender; it was an equal opportunity villain. However, the equal opportunity to rebuild and regained even a new sense of “normalcy” seems to have elluded those on the lower level of the socioeconomic ladder.

Also a continuation of the last couple of days is the ubiquitous image of the Confederate flag which permeates Mississippi with it’s embedded position in the State’s flag. I have somewhat desensitized myself (whether this desensitization is wrong or right) from seeing the image in people’s yards or on the front tag of their trucks, but it takes on a whole new meaning when it’s a State approved and OFFICIAL symbol as it is in Mississippi’s flag (and until recently Georgia’s flag) and on the state grounds of Alabama and South Carolina (as if it’s position on the grounds as oppposed to atop the State House sends a completely different message from State officials). Yesterday Dr. Hattery spoke to such a strong commitment to desegregation by many Southerners in these states who would rather let school system’s close instead of providing an integrated, equal education that included black students, depriving white children also of access to public education. When built upon this educational foundation and the flag that supports this ideology, should it surprising when looking at HS graduation rates for all 50 US states in 2005 collected by United Health Foundation that Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina ranked 45, 46, 49 and 50 respectively?

It is difficult to see a commitment to an equal education that the Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs Board of Education should come about when in these four states with the lowest graduation rates are where some of the highest percentages of black residents in the US are found. In 2005, Misssissippi had 37% black residents, Alabama had 26%, Georgia had 30% and South Carolina had 29% all compared with the national average of 13 percent.

Does the “stars and bars” really represent heritage and not hate (and the oppressive sytems born of this hate)?

The last two days have my brain on overdrive. I have become in the last two days even more appreciative of the sacrifices people before me made so that I could attend an integrated public school system and have access to the higher educational institutions of my choice. I think about all of the things I take for granted in life, such as anytime I walk into a public restroom only checking to make sure I’ve got the sign designating the right gender, not concerning myself with a “Whites Only” marker. These things should not be considered as “taken for granted” since it is a basic human right but people before faced brutal consequences for much smaller than using the “wrong facility” that make me appreciate the peace of mind they have given me.

From walking around downtown Montgomery, I grappled with the juxtaposition of moving from a former Slave Market to Dexter Ave King Memorial Baptist Church up to the State House where on one side of the grounds sat a very large monument honoring the Confederate soldiers (and more so the Confederate cause, whether deemed historical or current) and then onto the Civil Rights Memorial Institute. Over and over, I kept asking myself how can the policy makers in the State House look at the window to see such a large Confederate Monument and truly implement and/or enforce policies and laws that had the best of ALL people in mind.

As I walked through the George Washington Carver Homes, thinking about the Confederate monument the lawmakers in Montgomery look out their window to see, I could still see Jim Crow hard at work. I do not want to make the assumption that the residents do not enjoy their life there, but I can’t help but feel their access to resources is limited. And then after hearing the low high school graduation rates and high poverty rates in Selma, it put into context what truly is happening today in this type of community. After walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge which symbolizes so much of the fight for freedom and equal opportunity, I wonder if the people in the Housing Projects feel like they have the opportunity (though they live in such a historical community) to be doctors, lawyers, farmers or whatever else they may want to be?

And then to hear the low numbers of Black students attending the flagship University of Alabama, it paints such a sad picture after seeing the places where so many people’s blood was shed just for such freedoms. Institutionalized racism is alive and well and the problem is many of us (of all races) don’t even know it.

Typing a new post for starters.