At Saturday’s Starkville Unity March and subsequent rally on the campus of Mississippi State University, I watched and listened. I saw local white merchants bringing cases of bottled water and local white-owned restaurants dropping off food for organizers and the police. I saw many white business leaders, bankers, and civic club members participating in the march and staying for the rally.
It felt different than any race-related event and certainly any protest that I have ever witnessed as a citizen or covered as a reporter. It was hopeful. It had moments of sorrow, yes, but there was also a palpable joy. Older whites applauded and encouraged young black protestors as they spoke from their hearts.
It was an event that felt a world away from the Mississippi of my childhood. In 1960, The New York Times sent their Southern correspondent Claude Sitton – a Georgia native – to cover how the Mississippi criminal justice system dealt with one of the state’s most disturbing law enforcement-involved lynchings in our history.
Mack Charles Parker, a 23-year-old African American truck driver, was arrested in Pearl River County on charges of raping a pregnant white woman. Three days prior to his scheduled trial, a white mob dragged Parker from the jail with the alleged assistance of a former deputy sheriff and the jailer.
The mob kidnapped and beat Parker severely, then took him to the Bogalusa bridge on the Mississippi-Louisiana state line. There Parker was shot twice in the chest, his body weighted with logging chains and then tossed into the Pearl River. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was called in but was met with little to no local cooperation with the probe.
Later, after federal charges were brought against a group of suspects identified by the FBI, the then-mayor of Poplarville told Times’ reporter Sitton: “You couldn’t convict the guilty parties if you had a sound film of the lynching.”
Down through the civil right atrocities of my youth and childhood in Mississippi, with victims named Medgar Evers, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, Vernon Dahmer and so many others before them like Parker and Emmett Till, local indifference and often downright contempt greeted any effort to seek justice for these crimes.
But it’s clear that the old sneering comment from the Poplarville mayor in 1960 was no longer true, the one in which he stated Mississippians would not hold a suspect to account for a lynching “if you had a sound film.”
The powerful eight minutes and 46 seconds of video that recorded Floyd’s encounter with Minneapolis Police Department – in which he begged for his life while handcuffed and subdued – gave Americans a living room seat view of Floyd’s fate. And despite wide revelations about Floyd’s criminal record, it was the indifference to a handcuffed man in custody begging for his life that seemed to galvanize a nation.
In Mississippi, we have a long record of racial violence and civil right atrocities. We also have the highest percentage African American population in the nation along with the highest rate of poverty. Health and healthcare disparities are inarguable.
On social media, a growing number of Mississippians – including several white Republicans – are in conjunction with the Floyd protests calling for a change of the Mississippi state flag. Whether the state is ready to address that issue remains to be seen.
In the 2001 flag referendum in the Mississippi Delta region — the heart of this state’s black voter population — the 1894 flag won a 60 percent margin of approval. Records in the secretary of state’s office show voter participation in the 2001 flag referendum in black majority counties was significantly down from prior elections.
Predominantly white and Republican DeSoto County voted 6-1 for the old flag. Predominantly black and Democratic Hinds County voted 2-1 for the new flag.
Did Saturday’s marches and rallies change those attitudes and voter behaviors? The answer to that question is the hard comparison between marches and movements.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Sid Salter: Unity March Felt Far Different than Past Mississippi Reactions to Racial Injustices
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32 comments:
So if we steal and burn we have political power. Ok
Sid,
The USA was a lot safer for blacks, whites, and jewish guys from New York, back in the 1960s.
Why don't you write about that instead of this pandering drivel you keep up hoping for a Pulitzer.
Sid salter = an old fart that can’t recognize that Mississippi is moving on. Other than minor objections that historical symbols tied to racism are in the design, the Stennis Flag will be adopted without much resistance.
Go home, Sid.
You are old and busted.
Because removing statues and monuments has worked so well and resolved the problem already....The new flag offends me ... there is too much white on it!
If you're still holding on to a flag as something that defines you or your history, you're lying to yourself.
The US flag, the State flag, hell, even the Confederate flag changed many times. It's only a modern notion that a flag's history defines its present.
Change the flag, move one. In 40 years, when someone decides they don't like the new flag, change it again.
Thanks Sid...I've wondered for two years or more who would take the baton from Jerry Mitchell.
Sid’s description of Parker’s 1960 killing doesn’t say anything about lynching but Sid categorizes it as a lynching. Honest mistake or purposeful?
Of course things have changed in the last 60 years. While there are certainly pockets of racism in Mississippi today, and they may even be more prevalent than in most other states, I don't think anyone can argue that the people who were raised in the period after the integration of schools are much more respectful of human rights than those who came before.
The people who were influential in perpetuating racial disparity and segregation as societal norms are now mostly old and dead. The generations that came through school in the '70s and later make up a substantial majority of the workforce, business owners, and elected officials. They know equality is both a legal and moral requirement so the tolerance for racial discrimination is much less than it was during the civil rights movement.
It would be a sad testament to Mississippi if the current march didn't feel different than the historical past. Fortunately we've come a long way even if there is still work to be done.
@11:48 AM or (maybe Sid Salter himself)
Has white supremacy increased in America since the 1960s or decreased?
Also, please help me figure out why prior to the "Civil Rights Movement" every city and school in this country was safe for everyone.
And please explain why, in the decades since the Civil Rights Movement, crime and poverty has increased in nearly every city in America?
Salters needs a real job.
I know George Soros appreciates him.
The Stennis flag will represent Mississippi just as well as the present one....it's name will memorialize a staunch racist white man that fervently fought for segregation and white supremacy, which is pretty much what the majority of Mississippi citizens tend to be.
Sid is still pretending this totally organic and perfectly timed “uprising” has something to do with racism and black people
The problem with the state flag is purely ignorance. The so called "confederate flag" is just one of many color variants of the St. Andrews Cross. Which is also the flag of Jamaica, South Africa, and part of the Union Jack flown by the UK and her commonwealths.
The only reason anyone whimpers and whines about what it symbolizes is because they are uneducated. If you changed to to the Bonnie Blue then the ignorants would shut up. But that is also a confederate flag! However, it doesn't include the St. Andrew's Cross. Which seems to be the offensive feature.
I feel far different also-but unified is not how I would describe it.
Stennis was an interesting fella. He was a segregationist much of his career. He was robbed, shot and left to die outside his Washington D.C home in January 1973 by a group of thugs. Was lucky to survive. Few people remember in 1987 Stennis came out against Robert Bork for the Supreme Court which gave other Southern Democrats cover to oppose Bork. He made up with the left with that piece of treachery.
12:13 Mic Drop
@12:13 If you’d really like to know the answer to your question, then I’d highly recommend watching the documentary “13th”, which Netflix has currently put on YouTube for free. I’m sure there will be parts that you disagree with or make you uncomfortable, but overall I think regardless of where you stand politically, it helps make sense of how we got to where we are now.
You boys make Ross proud even to this day.
..Their it it...let's rename the reservoir....
I will tell you what. Black folks think white folks are racist. Wait until the Chicoms rule the planet.
There is a documentary called Empire of Dust about Chinese working on infrastructure projects and providing aid in Africa in exchange for mineral rights. It is not flattering.
@2:34
Watching movies and films cause you to shut off the reasoning centers of your brain. Thus making you susceptible to all manner of subliminal messaging and emotional manipulations.
I prefer facts over propaganda.
@2:38
21st century Democrats make him look like a prophet of truth and wisdom even to this day.
Little do you people know, and I ought not tell you this, but:
This so called Stennis flag is nothing more than a rearrangement of and modern-day presentation of Confederate flags.
the star is an opposite-color rendition of the Bonnie Blue, the flag-star that flew over the city of Jackson the day after secession. Subliminally and factually, this star represents secession. I love it.
The red banners on either end, are nothing more than the same banner that appears on the Third National Flag of The Confederacy after the first and second were retired. It's referred to as the Blood Stained Banner. I love it on the Stennis flag.
The white field is the same as was used in all Confederate flags.
I hope you people get what you're asking for.
Poor Sid.
He thinks he's so important.
Truth is, with all his Mississippi State connections, he still could not get me some of their Edam Cheese.
Their cowbells are embarrassing as hell when representing a SEC school on national television.
But they can make some damn good cheese.
Ya know, I've lived in MS all of my life, and while the flag doesn't personally offend me, I couldn't care less whether it's changed or not. Change it or don't change it, I don't care. What DOES amaze me, however, is how riled up the opponents of the current flag have gotten and the fact that they actually believe ANYTHING will change or will be any different if it IS changed! Not one damn thing will ever be different as a result of a change to a different State flag. Zero. Nada. None. It will just be another hurdle for the people behind its removal and they'll immediately switch to whatever is next on their list.
Don't EVER, EVER, EVER, be lulled into the belief that equality and fairness for all is the overall goal........
It’s called virtue signaling, Sid
7:49 is dead-on-correct. The Flag is just another in a long series of demands, some having been met, some under consideration, some still viewed as outlandish. Neither equality nor a flag change is the goal. Nothing short of superiority and total control will ever be the ultimate goal.
I wish every white person commenting would ask themselves the following " bottom line" question:
" Am I glad to have been born white?"
Unless you are unusually self-delusional, your answer is " yes".
And, if you are honest, you won't start rationalizing, but rather think of the advantages that gave you.
..so someone is sorry or disappointed for being black? geez how pathetic. Who are you to question God's providence? assuming you believe in God? What kind of perpetually offended message are you sending your race? Last time I checked pretty much all professional sports, federal agencies, congressmen/women, governors, mayors, elected officials now are more diverse (African American) than ever before..? Shouldn't you be proud? WTF?
Wow @10:49 am ! You really got on the defensive attack quickly.
God's Providence? You see nothing about " There but for the Grace of God, go I" and believe you have dominion over others by His Grace and Intent with no expectation for benevolence ? Are you arguing against The Sermon on the Mount or just that since it didn't specifically use the word race, race doesn't fall under the other groups mentioned?
With you, perhaps I need to explain that by "white", I mean Caucasian. Maybe I should have asked, "If you had had a choice to be born Black or White in the United States of America, which would you chose?"
Try to think of what advantages being born white gave YOU.
Let me list a few that were on my list to help you get started:
My parents had the advantages of more easily getting loans for a car or
house and at a lower interest rate. That facilitated other advantages.
My parents could afford to make sure I went to the best schools. Again, that gave me an edge over those who went to lower rated public schools.
When stopped for speeding, my Dad was called " Sir" and never asked to get out of the car and was never frisked.
If you bother to soul search, you will find advantages you started out having.
Then there's advantages was able to build from the ones my parents had:
I still had the easy loans and lower interests rates.
My first credit at local stores considered my parents credit history and in turned help me create my own " credit history". And, I did the same for my children by guaranteeing their first credit cards that they took to college.
My children could , when the public schools started failing, go to private school. And, there weren't many black kids as few could afford it. A few were on scholarship. A black employee's son tested better than many of the white kid who were " legacies" but didn't get accepted.
When I've been stopped by law enforcement for speeding or a broken tail light, the police officer addressed me with terms of respect. I've never been asked to "get out of the car" or been frisked for a traffic violation. I've never been stopped for my clothes or appearance " fitting the description".
Yes, things have changed and yes some whites have advantage over other whites, but you seem to miss that while things are changing and gains have been made, the odds of success as a white person are still significantly higher ( this will require you to read research ).
There is a longer list of advantages particular to my life as there would be to yours if you were capable of being honest with yourself. Indeed, I can go back to my grandparents and great grandparents for advantages I inherited.
Are things better? Absolutely, but you are so ignoring that the advantages we start out with matters and that all those advantages were still in place for until the Civil Rights Act and catching up takes a long time. That the achievements gained were gained as quickly as they have been, should tell you that we were inherently or even culturally superior at birth.
Each race on Earth has good and bad and afflicted in their race. And, pretty sure we are for those who believe in The One God, supposed to all be His children.
The flag should go because it understandably offends a large segment of the MS population. We should eliminate divisiveness whenever possible.
"I saw local white merchants bringing cases of bottled water and local white-owned restaurants dropping off food for organizers and the police. I saw many white business leaders, bankers, and civic club members participating in the march and staying for the rally."
Are you saying there were no black business people involved? Welcome to the lamestream media - we report only what we decide.
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