I think of Mississippi as my home state. Although I wasn’t born there, I spent my formative years in the Delta. School integration came to my town in 1970, and it was traumatic for all concerned. My elementary school burst at the seams as children from the black school across town joined us, and we went from housing grades 1-6 to 1-3. The second semester brought an increase in the number of classes we took. Third graders like me went from having three teachers to eight teachers per week. A bomb threat emptied our school out into the streets, and I remember a kind student teacher taking me home when she found me crying on the steps of the Catholic church across the street.
As a child, teenager, and young adult, I only paid attention to how these events impacted MY life. I knew that some of my black classmates lived in a rural area called Strike City, but I had no idea of the history that gave the area its name. We interacted at school, mostly through necessity, but socially the races were far apart.
As I’ve grown older I am appalled at my younger self, rolling my eyes every February when Black History Month meant multiple readings and oratory of the works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fortunately, the meaning eventually penetrated my selfish teenage brain. But it was only after moving away from the area that I began to understand the bigger picture. Watching this documentary, my heart breaks for the hundreds of years of struggle my black brothers and sisters have endured.
In many ways, the divide between black and white is still wide and very hostile. I’m grateful for Facebook, which has allowed me to interact socially with classmates of both races. Still, did I miss the public acknowledgment of my home state of past sins? In what way is the Sovereignty Commission different from other repulsive groups – including the Nazis and the Taliban?
I’d like to see Mississippi step forward and apologize, and make reparations – because anything that’s been done up to this point isn’t enough.