From June 5, 2007

After a pleasant and great night out at Po’ Monkey’s, our destination for today was the notorious and depressing Mississippi State Penitentiary called Parchman. Parchman sits on a plot of land measuring roughly 18,000 square acres where it seems to be its own little self-sustaining “community” (with that term being used very loosely). Driving into the gates of the penitentiary, I had very little expectations on a specific level, but I did believe that it would be very difficult and disturbing to witness some of the things that go on in one of the state’s three penitentiaries.
Parchman outnumbers Wake Forest undergraduate students in terms of population by a few hundred people. As an all-male, maximum security prison, I find it very odd and illogical that the majority of the workers are young black females. Not only are these young girls unable to provide the proper level of protection for themselves and the security of the prison, they are just too young to have the proper experience in dealing with hardened criminals in such an institution like Parchman. Issues of liability and accountability begin to arise just from that initial realization as we entered Parchman.
For so many reasons, it seems that the overall status of this penitentiary is to uphold the slave labor system. I think that the history of the Deep South indicates that when slavery was abolished and sharecroppers came to learn of some of their new rights, the whites in the south tried to develop new ways to imprison people and force blacks to provide free labor. The judicial system in the Delta seems to have worked against blacks by creating and upholding laws that they knew were either unjust or too harsh a punishment for the act committed.
There are glaring issues of corruption in Parchman. The first prisoner who spoke with us had so many things to say about the food, the forced farm labor, and the overall lack of protection and humane treatment while in prison. The administrative bodies that control Parchman should be held accountable for their actions, or lack thereof. The overall experience of Parchman was incredibly eye-opening.

Dear Summer Class:

This is Prof. Earl Smith.

This is my last blog (or close to my last blog):

Prisoners: Those persons (male, female, youth etc) confined to an institution (including home arrest) for reasons that they have been convicted & sentenced to a specified sentence (overall time of confinement).

Prisons: The actual place of confinement. Confusion arises when delineating a prison from a jail, from a state institution, from a federal institution. For simplicity sake a prison (qua jail) is the place convicted persons are sent to serve out their time. New to the US Justice System is the SUPERMAX PRISON. Here we have an institution (many located underground) whose sole purpose is holding the most hardened criminals in the US, many of who will never leave the SUPERMAX alive

Corrections: The treatment of offenders through a system of penal incarceration, rehabilitation, probation, and parole, or the administrative system by which these are effectuated. the department of local government that is responsible for managing the treatment of convicted offenders.

Parchman (a Mississippi State Penitentiary) is an older type of prison whose existence is built around the style and structure of the “plantation.” Hence, prisoners being held there, for the most part, carry out old style farming. Many of the farm staple goods are consumed by the inmates (beans, corn, okra, etc).

Since about the 1970s we see in the US an increase in male and female incarceration. With the change in the drug laws (most infamous are those applied in New York State under the administration of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller), more and more US citizens (and so-called illegal aliens) begin serving longer and longer sentences for violating drug laws. These lead to the now controversial “3-strikes you are out” felony convictions whereby a third felony conviction can mean life imprisonment regardless of what that 3^rd felony is. E.g., people can now go to prison for life for three drug convictions. Many crime scholars argue that these people have nothing more than a drug problem (a medical issue) and they are being WARE HOUSED in American prisons.

Important to prisons like Parchman is the issue of privatization. Although the state of Mississippi is still considering making Parchman a private prison, in the 1970s private corporations began to purchase and run American prisons. The significance of this is that prisoners are now laborers in many of these private prisons and they produce products that are purchased in the “free world.” Mostly they work for private global corporations (e.g., McDonald’s, Microsoft, Vitoria Secret, IBM etc).

At Parchman, although not a private penal institution, the production of the commodity cat fish is organized as a private production, distribution crop and sold on the world market. The cat fish industry is so lucrative for Parchman that it has knocked out of competition many of the previously successful cat fish farms in the Deep South, including Mississippi.

Hence, prisoners, prisons and corrections remain central to the study of social stratification not only in the south of the US but worldwide.

It used to be, but is no longer the case, that you could teach a social stratification course (outside of the standard criminology courses) and never have to include in the syllabus anything on the penal system. This is no longer the case.

The course was great. Have a wonderful summer.

NEWS BLAST FROM PARCHMAN

On this 20,000 acre prison farm it is routine to hear that no one escapes. It is not routine to hear that VIOLENCE is a daily occurrence. A week before our visit to Parchman (June 5, 2007) a murder took place and our visit was almost cancelled.

This morning, I am receiving information from Dr. Luther Brown (Delta Center, Cleveland State University in Cleveland Mississippi) that a few days after we visited Parchman there was an escape of an inmate working in the hospital unit (now you know why we insisted that there be no tank tops, no colored shoe laces, pull your pants up and, as we were told in the “pre-release unit” in our discussion with the two inmates - DON’T LET ANYONE PASS ANYTHING TO YOU. All of these rules are important in a place like Parchman). A few days later an inmate committed suicide (he hung himself) in Unit #32 (the unit we saw in the electronic TV monitoring room).

The town of Clarkesdale was pretty depressing to walk around because everything was run-down and most of the stores were closed.  There were very few people walking around as most were just driving through.  Jill, Margaret, Teresa, and I decided to brave the heat and try to walk to the Riverside Hotel.  We ended up turning the wrong way and walking deeper into Clarkesdale when an older white lady pulled over and asked us if we needed a ride.  We took that as a hint to turn around and go back to the main street but noted the demographics of the area if only four white girls stuck out so much for a woman to pull her car over and offer strangers a ride.

Ground Zero, Morgan Freeman’s restaurant was a cool place but felt really touristy.  The only people in there were our group and a man named Puddin’, who quickly befriended and played pool with the boys.  I’m sure there was a large crowd that evening with people listening to the band we heard at Po’ Monkeys.  Running into the band member we had just seen a few nights before in Merrigold just shows how small town and few people live in the Delta.  My favorite place in Clarkesdale was Cat’s Head because the artwork was so fun, I especially liked the piece Susan bought and Margaret bought enough t-shirts to support the entire community that day.

Staying at Shack Up Inn was my favorite night of the trip.  I just ran around when we first got there and it felt like we were at summer camp.  DJ and I had hand stand contests in the grass and we checked out everyone’s shack.  After getting settled in a little in the Hopson Plantation, Jill and I went the main desk to ask if there was a gas station in walking distance since Ronnie left us stranded for the night.  I was shocked when the owner just handed me a set of keys and said the gas station was 2 miles to left.  We had to wait for him to put power steering fluid in before we could leave!  The car was a really old Cadillac that was as big as a boat.  I was the first to drive and got nervous pulling out because the car was so big it swayed back and forth on the road.  Barely driving the speed limit we finally got to the gas station and then Jill drove home and we surprisingly did not hit anything.  Driving the old Cadillac was definitely a highlight of the evening.  We spent the majority of the night playing games accompanied by Lilly and Tonia on our porch since ours was screened in.  The next morning everyone was complaining and ready to leave but I liked it there and would have no problem spending more than one night at Shack Up (minus the poison oak I got that showed up when I got home and thought was chiggers)  As much fun as I had there I do realize that we were very lucky to have electricity and air conditioning and that I cannot compare it to summer camp because of the history of the shacks.

I was not at all excited to go home and have the trip end.  Although living out of a suitcase for two weeks was not ideal, I am in denial that it’s over.  I have tried to tell my friends and family about the trip but there is no way to fully explain everything we went through, saw, and accomplished.  Our group was perfect and I was apprehensive before leaving because I did not know many people going but now I am just as close with most people on the trip than I am with my friends at Wake I’ve had for three years.  I cannot put into words the impact of our class but I have already decorated my room with the posters we got and cannot wait to go home and show my family all the pictures.  My first night back was the worst and I miss my roommates!!!

Touring through the different sections of Cleveland, Mississippi was seeing houses and living conditions like night and day. The night we got to the hotel a few of us were watching TV in the lobby with the girl who worked behind the desk. She told us about her town Shaw which we actually got to drive through and see the high school she went to. The school history was interesting because it went from being completely white to Italian to African American. It was the first school in Mississippi to have integrated teachers and as Luther Brown pointed out the first teacher received more problems from other teachers and administration than parents because the parents were mostly Italian and directly understood the effects of segregation.

Lunch at the Hoover grocery store was really good except the Kool-Aid pickles that most of us regretted trying. Mr. Hoover then showed us the neighborhood which is where Robert Johnson used to live and play jazz out on the street corner. We went into a house and Mr. Hoover explained how life was like during the time of the explosion of blues. There was one bed, one mirror, no running water, and no electricity for a large family. They used kerosene lamps, bathed in the back yard, and the children slept on blankets on the floor. Being in the cramped house on such a hot day made us realize how blues was inspired. Mr. Hoover told us how Robert Johnson would draw the whole neighborhood outside when he played but parents discouraged their children from listening. He said that if he even started to sing blues his mother would immediately hit him to stop since it was “devil’s music.”

We continued our tour to Money, Mississippi and passed the railroad tracks where Emmit Till rode the train and the store where whistled at the white employee to trigger his murder. The contrast of the run down homes (which a bunch actually had Direct TV dishes but no windows or fully enacted roofs) to the neighborhood approaching the Alluvian hotel was very drastic. It was such a short drive from houses that looked more like shacks to houses that would fit in on Stratford. The shops surrounding the hotel were very upscale and the hotel was ridiculously luxurious. It was hard to see such poverty and then wealth.

Dinner at the Senators Place was incredibly good. I was so full from lunch at Hoover’s that I did not think I could possibly eat another bite but ended up stuffing my face with catfish, hush puppies, green beans, cole slaw, and of course banana pudding. Dr. Rosen’s passion for blues was so apparent which made his lecture during dinner really interesting because he was so excited about it. Senator Willie Simmons was very generous for keeping the restaurant open later and cooking for us and showed us even more hospitality later that night at Po’ Monkeys.

Po’ Monkey’s juke joint was clearly the highlight of the trip! Having gotten so close on the trip everyone had a great time with each other dancing, playing pool, and hanging out. The blues and that played was great and it was fun to be out with locals and not feel out of place as we often did walking around in such a large group. Not much to blog about the evening but for sure memories from Po’ Monkeys will last forever.

The last part of our trip was spent in Clarksdale, Mississippi. We spent Wednesday afternoon walking around Clarksdale, exploring the blues capital of the world. The majority of my afternoon was spent in two locations, the Delta Blues Museum and Ground Zero Blues Club. The museum was very interesting and provided more time to take in the all of the blues history that is abundant in the region. It was fun to see pictures of places like Po’ Monkey’s, knowing that we were there only two days before. I was also really excited to get some posters in the gift shop that I can use to decorate my new apartment with. After the museum we went to Ground Zero for lunch. This is a Blues club that is rather well known both for its blues, and for the fact that it is owned by Morgan Freeman, who is from Clarksdale. One of the things that makes this place unique is that people sign their names all over the place; on the walls, the tables, the mirrors, everywhere. It was fun to find a place to make my visit official by adding my name to the wall. We were only there for lunch, so we couldn’t take in the full experience with a band, but it was still fun to see the place.

After spending some time downtown, we got back on the bus and headed to our “hotel” for the night, the Shack Up Inn. I put hotel in quotations because the Shack Up Inn is unlike any other destination in the hospitality industry. I had explored the website prior to our arrival, so I was somewhat expecting what we saw when we first pulled up, but it was still a bit of a surprise. The Shack Up Inn consists of a row of shacks that have do not look like they belong in the year 2007. The shacks all have electricity, hot water, and air conditioning, but that’s about it. At first it was really fun to explore the shacks, see how they differed, and decide which ones were better or worse, but then it started to set in that we were actually staying there for a night. I’m obviously biased, but I’d say that my shack was the best one. It was bigger than some, and ours was the only one with a screened in porch. The experience was a lot of fun, and the class definitely made the best of it, but I wouldn’t really say it’s something I would like to do again.

Our stay at the Shack Up Inn was followed by two long days of driving home. We drove all day Thursday and spent the night in Knoxville, Tennessee. Unfortunately we did not get to see much of Tennessee because we left for Wake at 6:30 the next morning. The whole ride from Knoxville to Winston-Salem was spent sleeping on my part, so it went by pretty quickly. When we finally got back on campus it was pretty sad to realize that the trip was actually over. I had such a great time and learned and experienced so much that I really didn’t want it to end, but I know that I will keep this trip with me for a long, long time.

Today we went to Parchman, the most infamous prison in Mississippi. This was one of the days I was looking forward to the most, and it certainly did not disappoint. It was completely different from all the others days of the trip, and very interesting. The first thing we had to do this morning was adhere to the dress code, which meant no shoulders or anything else showing for the girls, no open toed shoes, boys had to be sure to wear a belt, and nobody could have any money of any sort. We also had to make sure we locked up all electronics and valuables underneath the bus. Making sure we followed all these rules further built up the anticipation for me; it was really like we were going to another world.

We started off the day in the visitor’s center, where we were greeted by Raphael, an inmate who has been imprisoned for nearly 15 years. Raphael was a very personable man, who had been a college basketball player and was in jail for dealing crack. One of the things that was reiterated today was that Mississippi is extremely tough on drug dealers, as is exemplified by the fact that Raphael was given a 30 year sentence for his first offense. He will be eligible for parole after fifteen years, and is therefore hoping to be out relatively soon. During his talk, he spoke about what it is like to have your freedom taken away and live in the harshest of environments for such a long time. He mentioned the brutality of prison life and how quickly he learned to sleep with his eyes open and with a weapon in his hand. It is hard to imagine always having to be on your guard, knowing that anyone could attack you for almost no reason whatsoever.

After Raphael and Linda from the visitor’s center spoke to us, we moved onto the building that housed the surveillance cameras. I found this to be one of the most interesting parts of the visit because we got to see firsthand what it is like inside the prisons. First of all, there was a murder in the prison last week, so things were on a bit more of a heightened security. One of the first things they showed us inside this building was a lance-like weapon that was very similar to the murder weapon. It was very creepy to see this thing that was made from a piece of the toilet and a broom stick, and demonstrated how smart and resourceful the prisoners are. When we walked into the room showing live surveillance on six different screens, the first thing I noticed was a huge puddle of red liquid in one of the hallways. It took someone asking what it was for all of our fears to be confirmed, as the workers told us it was blood from an inmate cutting his wrists. They were very nonchalant about the whole situation, saying that if he was trying to kill himself he would have done it in a different manner, and explaining how prisoners will often do things like this to go to the hospital where they will experience relative freedom and might even be able to get a cigarette. After this, we got the man working in surveillance to bring up some footage of an attack on a guard a couple weeks ago. It was UNBELIEVABLE to see a handcuffed prisoner attack a guard, throw him down on the floor, and stomp on his face until the guard just lay on the floor as the convict ran down the hallway. This was certainly the most shocking part of the day for me. I had always heard about and seen in movies the brutality that exists in prison, but to see it with my own eyes was something completely different.

The next really interesting thing we did within Parchman was go into one of the buildings that houses prisoners who are not a huge threat and are soon to be released. We all went into a room surrounded by windows that looked down into the living quarters of the inmates. It was interesting to see communal area where they sleep, hang out, and live. It became increasingly difficult to focus on the two people who spoke to us (one who dealt drugs, one who killed someone in self-defense) because it was so hot in there. There is no air conditioning in these quarters, and it was difficult to sit there for 30 minutes or so, I can’t even imagine having to live there on days when it gets to be 110 degrees. This issue with the heat is also important because of the work outside and in the fields that the convicts do. Parchman is more than just a prison, it is a huge farm with the buildings scattered around it, and the prisoners are depended on for a lot of work on this farm. It is hard to think about doing manual labor all day during the heat of the summer, and then returning to a cell where the heat just smothers you. Pretty much everything about prison life was difficult to take in, because there is not one aspect of it that is comfortable. Oh yea, and they often find bugs and eyes and more in their food! Yummy.

After our time in prison was done, we hit the road and drove up to the Gold Strike Casino. I’m happy with my winnings from our last stay at a casino, and therefore think I will try to avoid the roulette table and slot machines tonight, but we’ll see. I’ll probably be busy writing a paper all night anyways, so oh well.

Today was a very long but interesting day filled with information about the Mississippi delta. We woke up nice and early and went to Delta State University where we met with Dr. Luther Brown, a professor there who spoke to us and led us on a bus tour of the region. This tour brought us to various towns and cities and featured several stops of importance. We learned a lot about the history of the delta, along with the importance of agriculture to the area. Dr. Brown was a specialist on blues, so we heard a lot about the lives of some of the pioneers of blues, and made a couple stops to learn more. My favorite stop was in Greenwood, Mississippi, where we saw two very different parts of the town. First we went to a part called Baptist town, which is the African American part of town, is very poor, and is also where blues legend Robert Johnson lived, played, and was murdered. It was really neat to see this small community and really be able to get a feel for the atmosphere surrounding blues when it was at its height. We ate lunch at a small convenience store with a kitchen, where we were able to get some southern fried chicken and fried okra. The food was great, but all this fried food is killing me! We had a guest speaker at lunch who spoke some more about blues, and afterwards we walked around the neighborhood a bit to see where Robert Johnson lived, and tour a house preserved from that time. That house and the community really made it easier to see why blues were so popular because they provided an outlet for people to express their dissatisfaction with the social and economic environments in which they lived. As our tour guide said: “If we were depressed, we sang the blues. If we were happy, we sang the blues.”

After visiting Baptist town, we visited the other part of Greenwood, where the downtown is undergoing a revival. We had a nice break from the bus while seeing some of the Alluvian hotel, which was absolutely beautiful. If I ever return to Greenwood, I will certainly be staying there. We also stopped into the Viking kitchen supplies store, where beautiful (but expensive) supplies are sold, and cooking classes are taught. We tried to convince somebody that our class should get a cooking tutorial, but that didn’t happen. This was followed by hearing Senator David Jordan talk about living in the area during the murder of Emmet Till and the trial in which his killers were acquitted. It was really powerful to hear him tell this story and know that he was a little younger than I am now when it all happened. His speech had even more impact when we got on the bus and drove to Money, Mississippi, where we stopped in front of the store where Emmet got in trouble for whistling at a white woman.

After driving around the delta and learning even more about its history, we stopped at Senators restaurant for an early dinner. The restaurant stayed open just for us, and we were treated to a fried catfish dinner made especially for us by Senator Willie Simmons himself. Dinner was delicious, catfish officially became my favorite southern dish, and we heard a bit more about some of the history of blues our special guest for the day, Dr. Rosen. Dinner was great but we were all ready to get back to the hotel after a long day, and we especially could not wait to go to Po’ Monkey’s to really take in the blues/juke joint experience that we had been hearing about all day.

The whole class pulled up to Po’ Monkey’s around 8pm, ready to hear some good music and have fun. I really couldn’t wait to see what it looked like inside, because it seemed so tiny from the outside. The interior did not disappoint, it was decorated with Christmas lights, a disco ball, and had all sorts of dolls and monkeys hanging from the walls and ceiling. There was a stage for the band to play on, a bunch of tables for people to enjoy the music from, and a pool table off to the side. I know that I had a great time listening to the music, playing pool, and enjoying a beer or two. Mr. Monkey also really added to the experience, as he promenaded around the place with a cigar in once hand, a drink in the other, and wore a variety of fancy and colorful suits throughout the night. I believe he wore five different suits: orangish/brownish, red, blue, white, and dark green. I’m pretty sure that everybody really enjoyed this night, and it has definitely been the highlight of the trip for me.

Today was really relaxing and we didn’t do too much, but during reflection time we talked about what aspect of the trip was most difficult to confront, and what it means now. I think the hardest part for me was going to Baptist Town and the heading across the street to the rest of Greenwood which hides the reality of the poverty in the area. Four tourists who drive through Greenwood, they will never see the poverty across the train tracks and the poor living conditions many of the people in the community live under. I don’t really know what the mean now, but I guess I have realized that where you come from ultimately shapes where you go in life for the majority of people. I also realized that the poverty we hear about in third world countries also exists in this country. We need to realize that there are issues that need to be addressed in our own country before we begin to help those in other countries.

Later that day we stayed at the Shack Up Inn, a hotel located in small shacks where the sharecroppers used to live. The Inn is located on an old plantation so it felt like we really lived as sharecroppers. The area was awesome, minus the millions of bugs and chiggers surrounding us.

We visited Parchman Penitentiary today and it was incredibly intense. First we heard an inmate talk about his life and how he got to jail. He had been a crack-cocaine dealer in California and he was driving out east to sell more drugs when he was caught in Mississippi. This man has a few daughters and a wife, and the most devastating part about being in prison for 15 years was missing out on watching his daughters grow up. One of his daughters moved into the USC dorms this past year and he was terribly sad that he could not participate in this experience. This man played basketball in college and he had a good job; I was surprised to see someone so normal convicted of a felony that resulted in 15 years of prison. The next man we talked to sold marijuana among other drugs. He was from Michigan and this was his second time being sent to prison. He told us that in Michigan, he was released on bail for the possession of marijuana, but in Mississippi he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. I couldn’t believe how different the two states were in punishment! I was also shocked to hear him talk about how tough life is in prison. I already knew about the gang rapes that often occurred in the bathroom, but he said that you always have to be aware of your surroundings because it is so violent in prison. He said that your most powerful weapon in prison (and the real world) is your mind. We learned about the food and how it is so disgusting that even the cats won’t eat it. A security guard confirmed this statement, as she said that sometimes she has to smell the food and that alone is repulsive. They eat their own vegetables from the fields, and you will often find cut up snakes and insects, because nobody cleans the vegetables.

The last man that talked to us had been charged for murder. He claims that he killed in self defense, but in the state of Mississippi that doesn’t matter. I looked at him and could not see a murderer: instead I saw an older man as normal as anyone else is. He said that in prison, it is the general understanding that murderers are better than pedophiles Murderers usually kill in the heat of the moment, where pedophiles must research and plan their attack. This group is most often the type that is killed by other inmates. Anyways, this man was very interesting to listen to and both he and the man from Michigan will be released in a few months.

While we heard the last two men talk, it was incredibly hot. The inmates do not get any air conditioning or heat. They also only receive three different outfits for each year. The second man said that there was a fight a few weeks ago and the inmates didn’t want to security guards to hear about it, so he had to wipe up all the blood with one of his three shirts. This must mean that the inmates are very careful about what they tell the guards. We also got to see footage from a few assaults in the past. We watched an inmate beat up a guard and leave him passed out on the ground. I can’t help but wonder where this rage comes from. It seems like some of the anger comes from the living conditions. For the very worst crimes, the inmates are locked in their cell for 23 hours out of the day. For the 24^th hour, they are given some time outside. But they are confined to what looks like a dog kennel! It is ridiculously small and it must be scorching hot in them. For those guys, the one with a life sentence or on death row, they will live like that forever. But for most crimes, you can move up in your ranking in prison and increasingly develop more freedom. With time you can work in the fields all day and you do not have to be locked up in a cellar all day.

I can’t help but feel sad for these men. I realized that I could never work in a prison because I couldn’t find anything wrong with the men we saw. We stood at an observation point later in the day where we could watch dozens of men hanging around, and as I looked around I only saw people just like me. There were so many people that looked my age, a disturbing thought. Why are so many people in this jail?

There are around 5,000 inmates at Parchman, 85% due to drug-related crimes, and 80-85% are black. Those inmates on death row are closer to 50/50 white/black but for the rest of the population it is mostly black. The penitentiary resembles a plantation more than a jail and it is in the heart of the Delta. It is mostly the poor who come to prison because those who can afford good lawyers get out of their punishment. Mississippi’s laws are much harsher than most all states in the US. All these facts lead to the bothersome possibility that the prison system, particularly in this state, is made for certain people. Once people get there, it is also hard to get out. The programs that this prison offers to get inmates involve creating resumes and learning how to write checks. Classes like that will barely help anyone live a meaningful life after prison. Furthermore, if you have no money and no family members once you are let go, you are not legally allowed to leave. There is one man at the prison whose sister lives near a school. She is his only family member, but since he was a sex offender and cannot live near schools, he has to stay at Parchman. It was has been over 10 years since he was “released.” Stories like this were painful to hear about and made me realize that the fallacies in prison are too big to ignore. Today was definitely one of the most startling days of this trip.

Another interesting aspect of Parchman is that young women are increasingly becoming security guards. I wasn’t that surprised about this because lately they have had trouble finding employment, and I learned in my gender class that when men leave a particular job, women tend to fill in for them. This fact is nevertheless disturbing because I do not see how young women would be able to protect themselves against powerful ex-convicts.

Parchman was the perfect example of a total institution for many reasons. Multiple people said that you can never be the same once you are enrolled at Parchman, and after visiting I believe that once you enter the grounds for a long time you are forever changed. The place was very somber and depressing; I can’t imagine even working there.

Now we are in the Delta, the part of Mississippi where everything seems backwards. We got a tour of the area that included many towns from Merigold to Money, but each town seemed to confront the same problem: poverty. If you drive around this area as we did, you will see fields and fields of cotton, soybeans, corn, etc. It is a beautiful area, flat and green, with side roads taking you to small towns. But in these towns you realize that nothing seems to have changed for the past 50 years. We started the day by going to see a cotton ginnery, then we toured around small towns that reminded me of those on the Native American Reservations in Arizona. The one that stands out the most in my mind was Greenwood and the area called Baptist Town. When we entered this area, all we saw was small, run down houses and old, worn down cars. We ate at a small cafe/grocery store in the neighborhood and the people were extremely welcoming. (We tried kool-aid pickles, they were interesting). Anyways, the first thing I noticed was how cheap the food is. It was also homemade and I could tell that this was the main source (if not the only) of revenue coming into this community. I immediately thought of the Native American towns because they are very similar to this one. We learned that many people do not have running water or electricity in the Delta, and this is also true on the reservation. While the houses are older in this neighborhood, most Natives live in trailers, so I felt like these two accommodations evened each other out.

Dr. Hattery talked to us about rural vs. urban poverty and how different they are because in rural poverty there is a lack of resources. I thought about Baptist Town and how it feels like rural poverty. In some ways it is rural, but it is also next door to the entire Greenwood community, which is more economically developed. On the reservation, there is not even a neighboring community with resources because nobody has those resources on this land which spans over a hundred mile radius. Both African-Americans and Native Americans are being exploited and there are many similarities and differences between the two groups. We learned today that education in these areas is very poor and that many of the schools have been on probation because of low test scores. This is also a problem on the reservation. My mom used to work at Tiis Nas Pas, a few miles from Four Corners, at an elementary school. This school had very poor test scores and the government had threatened to shut it down. This exact same thing happened at the school that LaLee’s grandchildren went to in the movie we watched. Obviously the last thing a poor area needs is a shut down school; both areas desperately need much more funding for their school system.

Another similarity between both subgroups is the tendency to eat bad food. Native Americans actually used to eat very healthy, but when they were colonized they learned to make fried foods such as fry bread and Navajo tacos. The South also has unhealthy, bad food although I am not sure about the historical context for that.

There also seems to be a loss of culture in both communities. We learned that the younger generations in the South do not know of or understand the historical importance behind the Blues music. It is only up to the elders to understand that Blues music comes from a long history of suffering. Similarly, Native Americans have lost their culture because of the colonizers, and today the younger generations do not even know their native language.

Since we have been in the Delta I have wondered how exactly these two oppressed groups come together and how they are also separate. In some ways the Native Americans have a slight advantage over the African-Americans because they have a government organization (the BIA) to help them out. On the other hand, these communities are so set apart from the rest of American civilization that they cannot even benefit from a close by community of the middle and upper classes. Because the disparities between African-Americans and whites are very obvious because they are close in proximity to each other, Native Americans’ issues are less apparent because those communities are isolated. Yet I also feel like Americans have a general awareness about the poverty on reservations, where most have no idea how impoverished the South still is.

Later in the night we went to Po’ Monkeys to listen to Blues music and dance. Every Monday night the strippers from Memphis make an appearance, so you could say that there was a diverse crowd there. There were other tourists, some locals, our entire class, and the strippers. The tourist industry surrounding the Blues music is obviously bringing in a lot of money and people to the Delta.