Thirty years ago the late historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. wrote a book entitled The Disuniting of America that included this: “A cult of ethnicity has arisen … to denounce the idea of a melting pot, to challenge the concept of ‘one people’ and to protect, promote, and perpetuate separate ethnic and racial communities.”
Hopefully you remember the phrase ‘one people’ from our Declaration of Independence. “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people ….” That’s what Thomas Jefferson called early Americans. From this, Francis Bellamy’s notion of “indivisible” in our Pledge of Allegiance emerged.
A year after Schlesinger published his book, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal invited me, a new College Board member, to submit an op-ed piece related to the U.S Supreme Court decision in Ayers vs. Fordice, Mississippi’s longstanding higher education desegregation case. I built on Schlesinger’s question whether American was about division or transcending division to pose the same questions regarding Mississippi. I quoted the Rev. Edwin King, a longtime state civil rights activist, who said, “My own personal fear, shared by many friends, is that America is moving toward a two tiered society … and that is our choice and struggle here in Mississippi. Will we move forward or will we try to perpetuate separatism and segregation?”
Three decades later, racial division remains. More integrated workplaces and the recent state flag vote show progress. But few expect attitudes on racial separatism will do anything but dominate the upcoming redistricting battles at the state and local levels – white Republicans vs. black Democrats.
Sustaining some fiery white separatist attitudes is the fear that the white population majority will be overtaken by non-whites (a hope by black separatists). That fear was stoked in Mississippi by new 2020 Census data. It revealed the state’s white population had declined for the first time. It was down 48,500 since 2010. Somehow the ratio of white to non-white residents stayed level at 56%, but that ratio has fallen from a high of 64% in 1980. Demographic trends indicate the gap will continue to close. Undoubtedly, had not many non-white immigrants shied away from Census enrollment last year, the gap would have narrowed this time.
Interestingly, non-whites composed a majority of the population for over a hundred years in Mississippi – from 1830 to 1950. Beginning in 1940, black population began to decline while white population continued to increase, a downward trend that persisted until 1970. Meanwhile, other non-white population sectors started to increase. The 2020 Census shows Mississippi’s population to be 56% white, 38% black, 3% Hispanic, 1% Asian, and less than 1% American Indian. By comparison in 1940 the respective numbers were 50.6%, 49.2%, 0.04%, 0.03%, and 0.1%.
As long as Mississippians continue to view themselves as separate ethnic cultures, the Rev. King’s fears will remain valid and the notion of indivisibility a dream. Hopefully, those who work ceaselessly to transcend racial division in Mississippi will continue to do so and implant new attitudes in future generations.
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters … that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you” – 1 Corinthians 1:10.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.
14 comments:
So the Democrats promoting racial division through BLM and CRT isn’t a problem? BTW: the Justice Dept has made it nearly impossible to redistrict a minority district.
So we’re supposed to conduct our individual lives in a manner which appeases King?
GTFOH.
The racial problems of America were planted and nurtured by America for years and years and years.
There is an industry, a lucrative profession in promoting the division of people into factions and interest groups. So called leaders, activists, politicians etc. become rich and famous by reminding people that their problems are the fault of the other guy. The "other" group. They have no interest in solving the problem, just leading the group. The media highlights it all so it only gets bigger and the gaps become wider. The only way it will stop is to have a catastrophe that will make us all come together. That will happen.
If America is so bad, why are so many trying and dying to get here? Asking for a friend
@2:56
Because the Democrats haven’t run out of other people’s money to give immigrants.
Notice how rarely anyone from the developed world immigrates here. Because it’s not even better here, than it is Poland or South Korea anymore. So we get the poorest of the poor from the most corrupt and backward shitholes you can imagine.
There’s a difference between separatism and equal opportunity and equal Justice.
And 3:22 PM hasn’t likely travelled out of the State, much less to other countries. There are places everywhere that have more pride and cooperative efforts in maintaining there dwellings, and properties and a strong sense of community than here. We seem to like to display our dirty laundry and want other people and towns and cities in MS to fail.
We love to be, it seems, our own worse enemies… rivaled only by Alabama and Louisiana occasionally.
And our tolerance for political corruption and incompetence is just as impressive.
We are drowning , not just in the Delta viruses but public stupidity . Ivermectin as a cure or preventative for Covid? You get your meds at the feed store?
@2:56PM
You didn’t read the post, did you?
First, there is no such thing as a melting-pot.
The myth of a melting pot is as useless as considering the average age of college students in all of the 50 states. Whatta you do with the answer to that? Nothing, that's what.
The American melting pot used to have some sort of correlation with a principle called assimilation. Now, it's practically heresy to even mention that process.
@7:24
3:22 here. I have 15 visas stamped on my passport. How many do you have?
BET network, Miss Black America, BLM, Legislative Black Caucus, Black Trooper Assn., Black News, and the list could go on and on. Who are the racist KF ? Not Me
@8:33
None of those institutions would even be necessary if America was truly for all of its people after slavery ended. Let's get real. BET (and CMT) only came about due to MTV's lack of diversity. You can have Miss Black America and Black News(lol, wtf are those). Legislative Black Caucus wouldn't have been necessary either, if America looked out for all of its people. Black Troopers Assn shouldn't be necessary either, but bad cops are gonna be bad cops. HBCU's wouldn't exist if we would've just gone to school with blacks at Alcorn or just allowed blacks to enter Ole Miss etc before the 1960's. You act like these things were not created as a reaction to past and current institutions that exclude POCs.
8:33 Keep hanging on to that crutch and voting democrat. Some people will always need and excuse for their failures. Would you be OK with a Miss White America pageant, a legislative white caucus, a white college assn., a white business assn., a white only television network? To call out CMT and MTV just shows your ignorance. And on another note if you want to hear the "N Word " just listen to black rappers or hang out with African Americans. If you feel that it is ok to continue the path your democrat leaders have put you on then you get what you are asking for. It's just like the news media reporting "gun violence" in the inner cities. I have a few guns and none of them have committed any violence. Do you know where I can buy a violent gun? God forbid me saying that its a behavioral problem. LBJ was right.
12:03 - good effort at making an argument. And maybe -- maybe -- some of what you said might have had credibility at some time in the past. But it doesn't hold water today. (Legislative black caucus was created when there were more black legislators in the MS legislature than there were republican legislators, but nobody recognized or printed news releases from a republilcan caucus.) True that blacks couldn't enter Ole Miss (or State, or Southern or MC etc before the 60s) but today that fact has gone the way of the buggy whip. Alcorn and JSU will pay white kids to enroll there so that they can meet the minimum requirements of the settlement agreement entered into three decades ago, but yet they want to maintain their own identity. And MTV's diversity today could be questioned enough to justify a WET using your theory.
Melting pot with a large crack in it and a host of evil people taking advantage of that crack. Simple. The human experiment is sadly at it's end.
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