Jackson Jambalaya

The problem lies in the ingrained racial conflict that permeates every area of Delta life. It doesn't matter what a person's race is that holds office or positions of leadership - what matters is that they should act competently and in the best interests of their town, county, or the Delta as a whole. That's no longer happening and it hasn't happened for a long time now. The movers, shakers, and playmakers that once made the Delta a good place to live (quality of life) and do business (economic development) have been replaced by people who see those things as a threat to them. So they opt for the status quo of blight and decline.

Sounds like the people in charge are scared of losing the power. It’s all about them and not about the voters. The voters are conditioned to stay in poverty, otherwise they would vote differently.

Kids need to be taught that it’s okay to move. Teach them a trade from an early age and let them get the hell out. Go to areas of the country that have population and money. It’ll take a generation, but if the delta were empty short of farms and rec land things would look a lot different.

The people are the problem not an asset

These Empower Podcasts are HILARIOUS.

No. Jackson isn’t “coming back”.

No. The delta is t “coming back”.

Same goes for Natchez, Vicksburg, or most other locations.

In addition, liberal-think will eventually creep into any successful Mississippi town or city and destroy it as well.

These people are delusional.

So it is safe to say that Mississippi isn’t coming back. But what would it be coming back from? It never happened anyway!

The Delta's greatest asset is its dirt.

@1:36 PM: Amen! Those poverty pips wanted ignorance and poverty not improvement for their own selfish gain. What representation? If you're on the ground and the rope needed to pull you up is on the ground, how can you pull yourself up? Make that make sense.

12:35 and 12:59 are exactly right. As a lifelong Mississippian, I hate it, but the "tipping point" in those cities / areas has been reached. They're done, and they only get worse from here on out. Again, I hate it, but those are just the facts. If you've lived here long enough, you can remember what they once were and see what they are now. There just isn't a way back from what they've become - not with the present political structure and demographic remaining the same.

That WAS happening, 12:13. But certain parties, in order to enrich themselves, have been constructing instaslums all over the Delta: apartment communities which instantly develop social dynamics like the ones in Canton. Previously, several generations of the Delta's poor evacuated themselves to Detroit and Chicago - then to Atlanta. Such cities are rich with opportunities and services, and most transplants have done well.

Now, both the poor and their "apartment community" landlords (one was recently exposed, in a JJ article), are firmly attached to the government teat. Neither they, nor their landlords, have to wonder where their money is coming from.

The hopelessness multiplies.

Will the Delta 'come back', whatever 'come back' means. And, no, there is no more racial conflict there than any other area of the Southeast.

With the exception of Cleveland, every delta town now has or has had a black mayor, black supervisors, black school superintendent, black police chief and sheriff and the usual chicken, rib, turnip green and burger shacks that inundate any impoverished areas.

It's cute that this liberal think tank would attempt to take the spotlight off Jackson and shine it on the Delta. The only difference between the Delta and the rest of the state is that the Delta towns are relegated to 19 Delta and part Delta counties and the rest of the state is a bit more spread out. Otherwise, Mississippi is Mississippi.

So it is safe to say that Mississippi isn’t coming back. But what would it be coming back from? It never happened anyway!

Sadly, there's a certain truth to your comment.

What would the delta ever come back to?

Population in the delta peaked sometime in the 1970’s, as did the economic growth of every town. What changed?
First, the ruling in December 1969 by Judge Keady that desegregated public schools. White populations immediately established private schools and ran to them to avoid being the minority in schools. Middle class whites feeling the pinch of now paying tuition began moving to other parts of the state to avoid private schools.
Farm mechanization has been a real thing. Farms employed the vast majority of blacks in the Delta. An example I often think about is when a farmer told me of buying a cotton picker that could make its own bale. Even with a tremendous price increase he could eliminate at least three jobs.
When corn replaced cotton across most of the Delta the jobs at gins and compresses were eliminated.
Now, there is not a single Delta town with a thriving downtown, other than Cleveland.
Greenville had a population of over 50k in 1980 and now is probably less than 30k. Upper and middle class blacks have also left the Delta. Top level students in both public and private schools go off to college and never return.
The Delta will never “come back “, but what it can do is further process the agricultural products it grows instead of letting outside firms make more from the crop than the farmers. Music and food bring thousands of tourists annually, in addition to world renowned hunting.
Despite farm revenues and such, the largest income source in the Delta is transfer payments,,,,,government money.
There’s no mystery why the Delta originated singing the blues.

No. It can't.

Excellent analysis, 10:06!

No.

The only way any of this will change is getting rid of Democrats that run these places in the ground. But see, that will never happen because the people that live there have been told to keep voting the same people in. Sad affair.

There is NO future to the Mississippi Delta other than for the very few people who own and farm the land. There are no jobs coming to the delta. The American citizens that reside in the Delta and survive via transfer payments need to move to where economic opportunity exists. Our government needs create a path for mass migration out of the Delta.

Trusting politicians to solve the problem they created is the real problem. Solve that one and things will improve and folks will prosper.

Have you ever walked in a cotton field turnrow at dusk, a few hours after the crop duster sprayed, and heard the mourning doves coo, and smelled the Treflan in the air? My fondest memory from my Delta past.

No

Ask Bennie the Grifter

Every cow, when milked dry, over time will roll over and die. Every goose eventually lays its final golden egg.

Then, you're left with photos on the wall, old people in rocking chairs remembering and expert critics, living elsewhere, swilling bourbon and babbling their versions of cause and effect.

only after the great reset. then crops will be king if there is anyone left to grow them

Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education was the nuclear weapon that put us where we are today. Our betters told us it was going to be better for everyone. It wasn't. It isn't. Indeed, the situation of most Mississippians is worse across the board, all of it stemming from ill-conceived do-gooding.

I'm willing to bet 90% of those opining about the Delta have never lived there, have never spent more than a week at one time there and post bullshit that comes straight from their imagination.