Jackson Jambalaya

Our government actually did do this to native Indians whose land our government stole from them. Indians were here first, then white men and then men from Africa. FACTS ARE FACTS.

Why would the blog owner post such a silly notice as to warn readers that the word negro is used in a sixty year old article headline? Did the blog owner expect that some may accidentally open the link and be suddenly confronted with the word and react in some extreme manner, or maybe pass out or start throwing stuff at the wall?

Even Chokwe Lumumba advocated a 'negro colony' a few years ago. It was to be called The Republic of New Afrika.

During Bilbo's day, nobody had yet created (dreamed up) the term African American. In fact, the transition would soon be made from the preferred term 'negro' to the preferred term 'colored'. And, of course later the word 'black' would be substituted and, more recently, African American. The word Negro was not used derogatorily at all. Blacks preferred that term, in fact demanded the use of it during the fifties and early sixties. Even federal and state forms used that word to designate race.

Try to pay attention to REAL concerns, Kingfish.

Someone might disagree with your discussing history? Really?

Bilbo, another lifelong Democrat.

Native Americans came along before Indians did. Indians are a rather recent phenomenon. A Native American was never given seed money to establish a business and was never given sanctuary based on the monetary value of his investment. Fax is Fax.

Well, when you remember that the children of Bilbo's supporters then gave us The Sovereignty Commission and hardly improved things and that now it's that generation's children that lead us, it explains why racism and the accompanying distrust and fear it bred is still with us.
And, it's not like improvement initially came by enlightenment, but rather by federal intervention.

Both races are still more focused on the sins of the other race rather than in standing up to the sinners in their own race. And, the good and decent people of both races are still being shouted down and intimidated by the bullies among them.

I don't know why some of us apparently want to emulate the tribalism of the Middle East where hatred of Jews and their other neighbors and being stuck in the past that wasn't all that glorious is what distinguishes them.

Bilbo's Buffoonery, you say! A U.S.President in 1863 advocated Liberian, Haitian and South American colonies for 'negroes'. Let's assign buffonery where it's deserved.

7:25; that's a rather specious argument. I grew up in the generation of which you speak. It was quite popular, in fact prevalent, for the children of 'conservatives' and those you call 'racist' to rebel against those parental attributes and become lifelong liberals, especially if they were educated beyond 12th grade. And if they didn't stay liberals, at least most of them maintained a sense of 'acceptance of others' that was diametrically opposed to that of their parents.

I say that simply in order to call bullshit on your theory. Keep that table job in Fondren. Stay close to your comfort zone.

Bilbo was a lifelong Dem. Dan Quayle was a lifelong Republican. Your point?

Mississippi has always been run by racists. We used to call them "Democrats" and now we call them "Republicans." Same people.

Not all Democrats of the 'old days' were racists. Many were, but there were many more Mississippians (and most all were democrats then) who were not. I don't know that you can find any racists among the Republicans today. Granted there are still racists in the state, and those of them that vote probably don't vote for the Democrats - except of course, their Democrat sheriff, or supervisor, or clerk - and they might vote for a Republican for other offices.

Don't believe I buy 1:52 gross overstatement while he groups many folks into his 'racists' classification.

1:52 here. To clarify, I am saying that the racists in our state used to be Democrats (practically everyone in our state was a Democrat in the early 1900's) and now they are primarily Republicans. This is to counter the idiotic idea favored by many conservatives today that the Democratic party is really the racist party, since so many of the racists of yesterday were Democratic. The first part of that statement is generally true, the second is not. The racists changed parties.

No, the Democratic party is the historically racist party. By a landslide. The Republican party was not the racist party historically and is not now simply because you keep repeating the meme over and over and over again.

What a truly enlightened comparison. Bilbo versus Dan Quayle. Shoot blanks often?

My uncle told me he remembered seeing Bilbo as a teen-ager. Bilbo was apparently beholden to the brick industry, because he strongly supported using brick to create our highway system.

My uncle quoted Bilbo from memory: "We will lay those brick, and they will serve us for 40 years. When they wear out we can turn them over and they will serve us for 40 more. After that we can lay them on their ends and they will last by God forever."

I heard at one point that Bilbo proposed using blacks to lay and turn the bricks, with their wages being used to send them back to Africa. However, my uncle said this was not part of the brick proposal in the stump speech that he heard. Of course, I may have misquoted my uncle slightly, just as he might have slightly misquoted Bilbo, but it does illustrate the quality of political rhetoric at that time.

1:52 made a statement that deserves to be challenged. He said 'This is to counter the idiotic idea favored by many conservatives today that the Democratic party is really the racist party, since so many of the racists of yesterday were Democratic.' I guess someone somewhere thinks that, but I don't know anyone who does. But I do know a lot of people who say that today's Democrats are racists because their policies hurt blacks disproportionately.
Examples: Continuing to raise the minimum wage keeps unemployment high for black teenagers and this hurts many of them for their entire lives. They would be much better of is wages were lower and they got a job and learned how to work.
Abortion - I saw one statistic that said blacks are 5 times as likely to abort their children as whites.
Immigration - The Democratic Party's decision to stop enforcing immigration law (Not saying enforcement was air tight before, but these people don't pretend to try to follow the law) hurts blacks disproportionately. Blacks and Hispanics tend to be less educated and compete for many of the same jobs. By allowing, even encouraging, illegal immigration the Democratic Party is hurting blacks disproportionately. I could give more examples, but I think the point is made.

1:52 PM is absolutely correct.

Today racism is not really hidden as much as it is just understood amongst white folks.

When you hear white people talk about "democrats" they are referring to black people and it is usually in reference to a negative issue such as crime, welfare, or some such .

In fact, even white gay people have a hard time not throwing blacks under the bus.

I bet you that if it were put to vote, white people in MS would vote overwhelmingly to make blacks slaves again.

If I were black and lived in MS....I would move away as fast as I could.

^^^^ A guy who doesn't live here but is an expert on how 'whites', 'gays' and 'blacks' think in Mississippi. And the stupid S.O.B. even hints at putting his money where his mouth is. Please post name and address and name of your bookie so we can take you up on your bet.

I understand that at the time this was proposed the idea was way out there. But I do wonder if in 1865 the federal government should have offered a free return trip to Africa for any former slave who wanted to go. I think we often forget that as slaves people learned no skills related to earning, spending, or saving money. Food, shelter, clothing, and medical care were provided for them. It would be like taking millions of people who had been in prison for their entire lives, opening the gates, and saying - good luck. No matter what is done next, there will be a sizable adjustment period and it will not be smooth. Perhaps they were slaves in Africa before they came here and had nothing to return to. I don't know. Seems like giving them a choice would have been a nice gesture. I can imagine that learning all the life skills they did not have was very hard. Keep in mind there was no government assistance of any kind.