It is two days after the GOP primary in Mississippi. We are still laughing at Mitt's attempt to cuddle up to us with cheesy grits and a few y'alls thrown in. In my area of Mississippi it is yaw'all(10 second word). Had he come here expecting us to be able to count to 20 without removing our shoes, he may have been taken a little bit more seriously. I am not sure if Mitt's grits ranks with Bush's "this part of the world" statement after Katrina but it ranks.
Truthfully, I enjoy cheese in my grits along with garlic and red pepper. However, I do not think my love of grits, a bowl every morning, makes me Southern. Although I was born in Southern California and partially reared in Southern Wisconsin, I consider myself a full blown Mississippian. Along with keeping my grits to myself, I also speak without care of accent. The fact that I can tell you how to get from Memphis to the Coast without using the interstate or Google says I am from Mississippi. I do not find any need to validate being from MS. In my travels to other parts of the United States and the world, I have not found a need to deny being from Mississippi. In my travels I have been able to appreciate the people without mocking their lives. Mitt Romney would be well served to learn how to just be real.
Mississippi and the people are more than the stereotypes seen on television or depicted in books. We actually are an educated lot with a sense of decency. I admit there are those in this state who live up, with pride, to the stereotypes. However, I have found such low level of thinking around the world in my travels. Although the GOP in the state has succumbed to ALEC fever, Mississippi is making social and economic changes. We do not need anyone coming here to ridicule or to pity us. We need people who will work with us and respect us.
Informative links:
http://www2.nemcc.edu/mspeople/index.htm
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/13/cheesy-grits-y-all-in-defense-of-mitt-romney-s-political-pandering.html
http://www.alec.org/membership/legislative-membership/
Black Lightning It is finally here. I do mean finally for I have been waiting for seems to be ages (1977). I am calling for a second season having only watched the first two episodes. I am not sure of the level of involvement Tony Isabella & Trevor Von Eeden in the production of each episode. The first two I enjoyed, did I say that already? The first two episodes seems to have been packed with every issue seen in mainstream media and think pieces regarding the Black community. This posting is not a think piece. It is my piss piece. Before I touch on the piss, thanks, many thanks, to Salim and Mara Akil for making it happen. Black Lighting opens with a Black parent, once again, having to bail a child out of jail for exercising his/her right of protest in the USA. We need to question why peaceful protests with no guns see protestors arrested. Please do not take I am saying people of color should have guns at protest marches. We would be shot before the
Am originally from Ms, graduated from Ole Miss.
ReplyDeleteI know about Ms, the good and the bad, but the story this morning of the college students yelling at a basketball player about "where's your green card" is simply a display of ignorance beyond my understanding. It makes the people of Ms look like a bunch of stupid clods - people from Puerto Rico ARE Americans - since 1917. You might want to pass that around.
We worked hard for that stereotype.
ReplyDeleteSo when I was in seminars in grad school and I told the room I was from MS and I had the feeling that half the people in the room were looking at me and seeing me with a white hood over my head. It hurt. A little like assuming all Black people like fried chicken (who DOESN'T like fried chicken ferchrissakes?).
But then, those guys interviewed by Maher's field producer - gosh they sounded familiar. And didn't the first Black man to go to USM die in the Hattiesburg jail in '69 on a trumped up charge of stealing chicken feed, and didn't the university fire my philosophy professor because he agreed to be the faculty representative of the ACLU student organization? And didn't my best friend have his front teeth knocked out when he commented on the "All proceeds from this machine go to the KKK" sign over the jukebox at the local truck stop?
There ARE nice, decent people in Mississippi. Most of them are Black. Some of them are White. But it's more than a little futile to protest at accusations that the people of Mississippi are bigoted, stupid and backward when the fact is so many of them revel in bigotry, stupidity and "their confederate heritage."
Jeez, MS....
ReplyDeleteJust own it, already.
I think the problem here is the author has conflated the good folk of MS with the general populace of MS.
ReplyDelete