Jackson Jambalaya

Leave Mississippi and see for yourself—the poor infrastructure, law enforcement, and school systems here are all terrible. The rampant corruption and racial tension is pathetic.
Between Group 1: the racist elitists who pat themselves on the back for going to church on Sunday yet hook up friends with government contracts, hook up family members with jobs they are not qualified for, cheat, lie and love the status quo because all the corruption benefits them and their family and friends (many seem to be Ole Miss alumni and those white women accurately depicted in The Help with the same mentality and lust for gossip, just different clothes today) and Group 2: the lazy, entitled, indifferent and depraved who will not even do the bare minimum at much of anything whether at school, work or in their community, complain about everything in their constant bad attitudes, there is a much smaller group constantly fighting an unending battle:
They are the hardworking, creative people who still have hope for something better here, but are in such a small minority in this state. They are passionate in what they do, earnestly trying to persuade those who make up groups 1 and 2 above that there is potential here for a better life for all.
The corruption in this state is awful. Stop giving jobs to people you are related to just because you are related. The corruption in state government is appalling.. Stop with the constant gossip. Stop hating those who look different than you. White churches/black churches, white restaurants/black restaurants, white schools/black schools…it’s a bizarre place. MS needs diversity. MS needs reconciliation. MS needs to recognize how truly terrible it is first. Address these real problems. Get angry—do something about it! Otherwise, face the fact that what Chris Rock or the rest of the country perceives about this state is simply true. You really are that bad Mississippi.

A drive down Hwy 80 in Jackson? It proves him right.

A drive in any town in the delta? It proves him right.

Offended? Change it....or change the channel.

Many Mississippians know how to 'make paragraphs' while typing. On a blog, you simply hit the 'enter key' a couple of times. On Facebook, you simply hold down the 'shift key' and hit the 'enter key'.

PS: Where are these white and black restaurants?

Chris Rock is 100% accurate, once at the resort damn nice place to be.

He drove down West Capital street too.

Here’s a reality check...On YouTube search for videos of homeless poverty in any city or state. Try Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco. He’s just playing to the ignorant.

If you lived here your whole life and don't travel, you will not notice how bad it is here.

But living in other states and major metropolitan areas compared to Jackson, it's pathetic on how this state functions as a whoke!? Especially when you look at the growth in other southern states and metropolitan areas.

Mississippi is not a hard fix because it's already at rock bottom. But the mindset of the leadership has to change, too many in positions of authority are o.k. with the status quo.

Stop with the archaic social policies, stop shooting yourselves in the foot when it comes to fiscal, start rebranding the states image by changing the state flag.

Start taking advantage of outside money with tourism and hosting cultural and sports events. People truly want to explore Mississippi, it is the last American frontier.

I'm a 'Lifer". He nailed it!

Racial tension?
I have lived in Mississippi for 20 years now and it's a paradise for blacks compared to most places... try going to Boston... of course there are very few blacks there or go to Michigan Chicago any other region of the country... blacks will be begging for Mississippi again. We have more black colleges more black elected officials than any state. People in Mississippi haven't a clue what it's like elsewhere. This could be due to our states demographics having so many minorities compared to most any other place in the country and I understand that. Moving from the Northeast it was a cultural shock once I moved to Mississippi due to the educational level of overall Mississippi residents as well as the weight and it may shock you but I really enjoy life here as its slower paced and I enjoy practicing medicine in this state. I do wish overall population was more educated maybe diabetes wouldn't be so high.

There wasn't much there about Mississippi. He said it's like Jamaica is about all I got out of that.

A drive down West Capitol proves him right.

12:31 AM badly needs a colonic.

Not that I was ever planning to watch this production (it lost me with the misspelling of "tambourine"), but who cares what Chris Rock says? He was funny enough in that spot-on send-up of his own race a few years ago, wherein he gave very good advice on topics like way-too-loud rap music in cars("TURN THAT SHIT OFF!") He should stick to that subject matter, and leave us alone. We are, sadly, too easy a target.

Good for Chris.....hopefully this will keep an influx of crowds, crowds and more crowds.

Ever been to Newark?...makes the Delta look like the land of milk and honey....

He's talking about Southern MS. He's performed at Casinos on the coast before. Just takes a quick Google search people.

Mississippi is not a paradise for blacks?

Yes, there are more black elected officials, but that is due to demographics.

Call me when one wins statewide office.

The only reason we have more black colleges is due to segregation.

Hell Boston elected Edward Brooke, a black man, to the US Senate while Mississippi had legalized segregation.

Chicago had a black mayor, while Jackson had Dale Danks. Illinois sent two Blacks to the US Senate in Mosley-Braun and Obama, while Mississippi sent Thad Cochran and some other white fella in the last 40 years.

Yes, there is racism everywhere, but in regards to Boston, Chicago, and Detroit, upward mobility was feasible for black Americans and that is why they ran away from the south.

We are only 153 years removed from the abolition of slavery, we are only 54 years removed from the Civil rights act. We have seen great progress, but we have a ways to go in this state when it comes to cultural awareness and people truly judging others by their character and not their skin tone.

Every once and a while, JJ commenters surprise me. Life long resident here, late 30s. This place sucks, but we love it because it’s familiar and home. And in general the folks are pleasant.

Some post "Jackson is gone", but if the truth be known "Mississippi is gone". Many of us grew up in Mississippi towns, but if we go back to visit those towns, we see boarded up stores, many homes for sale, etc. I stayed in Mississippi after college when friends went to work in North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, etc. At age 70, I can sadly say they made the wise move.

True enought within the realm of artistic/comedic license. Then again, things have changed, and primarily for the better, which is why Anon. 6:34 pretty much nailed it in his/her remarks about "a paradise for blacks compared to most places." Now if we can just move the entire state foreward, elect some real leadership, etc. Hey, I can still dream, can't I?

Truth hurts. Accurate assessment.

"MORE WHITE KIDS TO NEED ME KILLED" Chris Rock



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpBV8Uqk050

Yes he went too far, with all that foul language and blasphemy, but there is still redemption at the foot of the Cross!

Anon. 9:05, even though it looks like you got some words out of order, your quote is way out of context. Dangerous to pick one line out of a stand-up routine and say, "Look what
he said!"

Anon. 9:28, as long as I seem to be one of the few while male Mississippians who would "defend" Chris Rock, you should really check out his role in the movie "Dogma". I've admired/appreciated Chris Rock ever since I was introduced to him in that context nearly 20 years ago now.

it's a comedy act. and yes--drive on up to Tchula....

What does this individual have to say about the murder rate in Chicago? Divide and conquer, it has worked for years.

@ March 7, 2018 at 10:17 AM

The murder rate in Chicago is high, but the quality of life in the city and surrounding burbs is still head and shoulders better than any metropolitan area in Mississippi.

Chicago's murder rate is due to the closing of gang-controlled housing projects and people from those communities being redistributed in random various parts of the city. While it may sound crazy to people who live in a rural place like Mississippi, certain gangs controlled certain neighborhoods in the city. When they broke up those housing projects, the gangs traveled. Most gangs make their money via the drug trade, you move into a rival territory, that's where the murder problems begin and end.

( I hit send after looking away)
It should read
"MORE WHITE KIDS NEED TO BE KILLED"

So true, Anon. 9:50. Tchula, any other small Delta town, west Jackson, etc. And just think, the only place in MS Chris Rock has apprently been is Biloxi where he didn't get a complete picture of MS by any means. Funny how things work sometimes. I got notice of this via email this morning. Legacy of Nina Simone Gee, I wonder if she'll sing Nina's famous "Mississippi G..d..."? I guess probably not.

Louis LeFleur said...
Anon. 9:05, even though it looks like you got some words out of order, your quote is way out of context. Dangerous to pick one line out of a stand-up routine and say, "Look what
he said!"

Did he not say more while kids need to be killed to make it equal?
So, because the black kids are on a rampage, the white kids must suffer?
Now THAT is dangerous.
BTW, the posts should be edited by now.

Hmm. Y'all help me out. Those of you who have traveled a little, what's the demographic like in the Caribbean countries where you have a dangerous drive from the airport to the resort? So exactly why is it that you think he's wrong here?

Yeah, segregation and Jim Crow laws hurt us, but it's for a different reason than you think. Then, as now, most of the people who were talented enough to leave here left here. What we have now are descendants of people who couldn't go anywhere else. Back then it was racial, and now the exodus cuts across race.

You think we've got a bunch of lazy, poorly-educated, fat people now? Wait 30 years.

Would you want your 10 year old listening to spews out of Chris Rock mouth?

Sorry, Pookie. You are no longer relevant. Next.

I love Mississippi, but she can be a bitch sometimes.

Y'all have covered the main points, but the intellectual incest that happens here is unique to Mississippi. The only other place it sort of happens is Louisiana. What do I mean?

State and Ole Miss with the occasional USM is where the vast majority of our students STRIVE to go. I understand that state schools are going to attract the majority, but we sell our kids short by committing them to a particular college while they are in diapers just because mommy and daddy like the football team.

An anecdotical story - I once commented on a friend's post about the sorry state of guidance counselors in our school (which is part of the problem). I linked the story about the young man from Enterprise who is at Harvard right now. The comment section moved from attacking the guidance counselor that was pointing a kid with a 30+ ACT to Hinds to "We don't need no Harvard," and the like. It was overwhelming.

I have good friends with smart kids that could do so much better than Ole Miss, but the Grove is life. I know kids that believe with all their heart that they are headed to MSU to get an elite engineering education, when the truth is that MSU's engineering school is rated 110th in the country, and MSU in general is the third worse Power 5 institution in the US News ratings (West Virginia and Texas Tech are rated worse).

@ 11:19am

"Hmm. Y'all help me out. Those of you who have traveled a little, what's the demographic like in the Caribbean countries where you have a dangerous drive from the airport to the resort?"

I don't know if you meant racially or economically, but regardless, there is no excuse for why a state in the United States of America has living conditions comparable to a poor Caribbean country?

Mississippi turns down sound funding when it should take it and gives away money to companies when it shouldn't.

These crazy austerity measures year in and year out have backed this state into a fiscal housekeeping/maintenance corner.

With Thad Cochran retiring, who knows how this state will survive without the pork money he's wheeled in?

But this state is run by a bunch of ideologues and not pragmatists and that's why it's in the condition it is in.

Its all Americans For Prosperity fault for running off business trying to open up in Mississippi. No tax base = ghost towns.

10:42 Is the quality of life in the city of Chicago and suburbs better for everybody or just those who can afford it? Seems like there is a correlation between illicit activity, the murder rate, and dispersement of the indigent in your analysis. Talking loud and saying nothing is what has gotten us into deep water everywhere. James Brown has a song about that, check out the long version .

8:17 - Whatever point you're trying to make flounders on the rocks beneath the lighthouse you think you represent.

The cities you mention as being bastions of integration and progress....take a look at each of them, their form of government, their current social situation, their crime rates, their conditions....and report back. And be sure to tell us how those conditions are the fault of a racist South.

Your race card is bullshit.

I lived in Atlanta once. Chris Rock can suck my balls.

These crazy austerity measures year in and year out have backed this state into a fiscal housekeeping/maintenance corner.

Year in and year out? Tell us, how long? Be specific.

@12:20pm I don't know if you meant racially or economically, but regardless, there is no excuse for why a state in the United States of America has living conditions comparable to a poor Caribbean country?

I don't know if you meant racially or economically, but regardless, there is no excuse for why all 50 states in the United States of America have living conditions comparable to a poor Caribbean country?

Fixed it for you.

@ March 7, 2018, at 12:43 PM - The cities you mention as being bastions of integration and progress....take a look at each of them, their form of government, their current social situation, their crime rates, their conditions....and report back.

The Chicago metropolitan area has quadruple the residents of Mississippi? So, obviously, the problems are not as bad as you try to make them out to be. It's a whole lot colder and the weather sucks, but people are flocking there quicker than they are here? Where our crime right per capita, is nothing to stand on either?

@ March 7, 2018, at 1:32 PM - Year in and year out? Tell us, how long? Be specific.

That's a fair question - but when Phil "Dewey" Bryant became Governor in 2012 and decided to follow the Sam Brownback fiscal playbook of Kansas and the Bobby Jindal fiscal playbook of Louisiana.

@ March 7, 2018, at 1:46 PM - thank you! LOL!!!!

The elitist attitude of the University of Mississippi is why the state remains down. Even today, they are putting up plaques attempting to placate the sins of the past, but still cling to the racist moniker "ole' Miss'" and "rebels"....until they cleanse the present of any visible or audible reference to the sick Old South, then and only then will they become a university for its people, not just those who think they're "better than" everyone else, just because the think so. Protecting southern "heritage" is a losing proposition because keeping that heritage alive IS hateful. By the way, their enrollment is dropping if you haven't heard.

Why are so many people all fired up because of what a comedian said to get a laugh?
His job is to be funny. He doesn't have to or need to be very intelligent.
Bout the same as getting all fired up with what Bugs Bunny might say.

...but people are flocking there [Chicago] quicker than they are here?

Link?

It's hilarious that a comedian flames MS and everyone points fingers at groups of people and certain institutions! He isn't saying anything about the state of the State that we haven't said ourselves many times pointing out the extreme disparities. The truth is he could have easily singled out neighboring states or even cites but their names would not have permitted the "Miss-take" punchline. Strange thing is that we are offended by the joke but we don't really get it - and make excuses instead of making changes. The flag is another example - I guess we're too used to being the butt of jokes to do anything about it. Other states would go full-court press with PR efforts to diffuse the bad publicity - or perception...

Mississippi was once the richest state in the U.S. because it's wealth was calculated by the value of it's slaves. Although legal slavery was outlawed, the small but powerful upper class retained it's relative wealth by keeping lower class blacks and whites in a constant state of rivalry and ignorance. This state of affairs has become so systemic in Mississippi that it goes unnoticed and has been accepted by many as "our heritage". Mississippi continues to be a place to come from, not a place to go to.

So Mississippi is the butt of jokes. What else can it be? There's nothing else to talk about. We've got nothing else that anybody wants. Nothing.

#45 is being sued by porn star. Let that sink in, he could be from Mississippi.

First of all, statistically, Jackson is about 50% more dangerous than Chicago. (Check the percentage of population statistics)......So we've got that going for us.

Secondly, Mississippi has the greatest percentage of blacks living here over any other State. By a full 5% of population. So, did anyone else see the irony of Chris Rock's comments or was it just me?

@ 2:59pm

Here you go - it's about the same rate as Mississippi's out migration rate

https://www.illinoispolicy.org/cook-county-population-declines-by-2000-over-5-years-out-migration-doubles/

5:40 Which billionaire from Mississippi was accused of having an affair with a porn star?

PS videos of a dancer from (fill in your local gentlemen's club) don't qualify as "porn star".

6:36 You're right, Mississippi does have the largest percentage of Black people, almost all of whom began in slavery and lived in legally sanctioned poverty until a few decades ago. Coming from absolute nothing (legally and illegally enforced) they have made enormous strides, but have a long way to go. If Whites in Mississippi had made the same relative progress, this state would be far from 50th in damn near everything. Think about it when you consider irony.

2:30 PM is new here. Quite green.

Maybe got lost on the JFP or similar site by clicking a link with "jambalaya" in the name.

Welcome, young Donner!

FWIW, I don't give a rat's ass about that school but Lawdy, ah say, Lawdy, boy... some volume control on poppin' your first cherry of a post.

5:23am, Crechales, Mayflower, and Elite, are white restaurants. Old enough to have prospered during segregation, and never tried to obviously change. Doesn't mean you won't ever see a black person there, but the vast majority of black people will never go due to a perceived history of racism.

1369 Red Zone, Bully's, E&L, are black restaurants. Doesn't mean you won't ever see white people there, but the vast majority would never venture, no matter how good reviews, because of a fear of "crime."

Outsider at 12:31 said "MS needs diversity."

Really? For what? What would this diversity provide?

Ignore this video. He is playing to the ignorant and embellishing a bad situation to get a laugh. Its what he does and he’s generally funny.
Regardless of that, there are many racist in Mississippi and they are not all the same race. Statistically speaking, more black men need to stay home and raise their sons. More politicians need to worry about doing what’s the best for their constituents instead of how they get money to their cronies.

Doesn't mean you won't ever see white people there, but the vast majority would never venture, no matter how good reviews, because of a realistic expectation of "rude service."

PittPanther, you do come up with some silliness.

Of the three "white" restaurants you mention, I can't speak of Crechale's because I have never been there, but every time I go to the other two, I see black people dining there. So are those people "Uncle Toms" because they are patronizing an establishment that, as you say, prospered under segregation?

And what the hell does that mean, anyway? So is any Jackson business that has been around for more than 50 years subject to this tacit boycott?

He is right. Don't be upset with him just telling the truth. Get upset about the people, white and black, in this state who constantly look over the plight and decay. If we razed every dilapidated building and planted grass, this state would look like the rolling hills of Ireland.

He wouldn’t say that if the airport was in Madison. He would be talking about how awesome it w.

Is everyone forgetting that Mississippi is at the top of every bad list and at the bottom of every good list? Don't get mad at Chris Rock for speaking the truth.

ANYONE, black or white, who hasn't eaten at Red Zone, is surely missing out on some awesome food.

And MESSICK, people like you are a big part of Mississippi's image problem. If you look in a mirror, you just might see a racist looking back at you.

Compared to the first 2 comments he made about the porcupine and quick sand, the applause he received when he asked, "Have you ever been to Mississippi?"was much louder and longer and makes me wonder if most of the audience has been here or lived here. Or, if they laughed long and loudly because of all the jokes from the past or because we haven't changed the flag or what? We still do have the reputation for being a mistake compared to other states, but Toyota, Nissan, Yokohama Tire and other new businesses did not let our state flag stop them from locating here. Chris Rock's description of the ride from the airport makes me wonder what airport he has landed at and the ride from airport to hotel was through a slum area? Do we have airports where the ride is as he described? The ride from Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport to our downtown hotels is usually on I-55. The scenery is mostly trees on both sides until the Outlet Malls of Mississippi.

We do have many, many things we need to improve. I hope we can one day rise above the loud applause when comedians poke fun at us.

I thought it was pretty damn funny.

"Chris Rock's description of the ride from the airport makes me wonder what airport he has landed at and the ride from airport to hotel was through a slum area?"

He seems to play casinos on the coast, and the NOLA airport has tons more flight options from anywhere than Jackson (also direct flights from everywhere).

I wonder if the misery he described refers to NOLA and the ride from there to the MS coast.