Race relations in the Mississippi Delta (Cleveland, West: crime, school, live in)

[american_life]

As a student of American life I am curious about the sociology of this region.

Are there race issues at the political/statutory level?

In the social realm, what is the extent of integration?

Are there still racial taboos?

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by american_life

As a student of American life I am curious about the sociology of this region.

Are there race issues at the political/statutory level?

In the social realm, what is the extent of integration?

Are there still racial taboos?

I am not from the Mississippi Delta area, but have several close friends who are. And my own ancestral roots are somewhat of that area.

So while I can't really answer the question in a first hand manner, I do want to say that "racial taboos" like any other, exist everywhere. Whether it be in the very defined ethnic enclaves of the northeast, or the social customs of the South. I grew up during the last phases of de jure segregation in the South (Texas was a "Jim Crow" state like all others in the region). And what I really do say, and will maintain, is that the biggest difference in segregation in the North (or far West) and in the South, is that the latter was just less hypocritical about it.

Anyway, just my opinion. And it really doesn't answer yours. Perhaps some of the native Mississippi delta friends will reply to this one.

[dullnboring]

Not to get into the political/current events sphere which I steer clear of on this board. However, the situation in the Mississippi Delta is not too different from the situation in nearby Jena, Louisiana, whose racial issues are being breathlessly covered in the press. Any reading up on Jena should give you a good idea of the situation in the Mississippi Delta and the various tensions and taboos that still exist in the area.

[Delta Planter]

Originally Posted by dullnboring

Not to get into the political/current events sphere which I steer clear of on this board. However, the situation in the Mississippi Delta is not too different from the situation in nearby Jena, Louisiana, whose racial issues are being breathlessly covered in the press. Any reading up on Jena should give you a good idea of the situation in the Mississippi Delta and the various tensions and taboos that still exist in the area.

live there now, or are you "assuming" that all parts of the Deep South are the same? I'm a Mississippi Delta Native, BTW, FWIW. I live in TX, now, FWIW.

[TexasReb]

I am going to, very carefully, wade into this one as concerns the Jena situation, or the Mississippi Delta, or, the one I know most about, extending the "Deep South" into east and southeast Texas (which it is).

How many get their information from what is happening/has happened, from the mainstream media and the New York Times?

I am sure everyone remembers the horrible incident in Jasper, Texas where a black man was dragged to his death by three of the lowest life white trash amongst us. A crime that appalled any decent Southerner. The whole of the yankee press, the race-baiters, decended into this quiet East Texas town and used it as a sounding board as to how "the Deep South hasn't changed" since the incident at the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama, or the Ole Miss riots in 1964.

YET...how many ever heard of THIS incident?

FrontPage Magazine

[Miker2069]

Why is this not in the Mississippi forum?

[Don D.]

Originally Posted by american_life

As a student of American life I am curious about the sociology of this region.

Are there race issues at the political/statutory level?

In the social realm, what is the extent of integration?

Are there still racial taboos?

I lived in the Mississippi Delta all my life, the first 40 years of it that is. I'm not sure what you are asking. What does it mean to have 'race issues at the statutory level'? Your next question, regarding what you call 'integration in the social realm' is equally vague. Are there 'still racial taboos'? What's that mean?

I figure you're trying to write some kind of paper for school and don't really know what to ask. These sound like some vacant-headed questions a liberal professor might have penned. If you or he care to be more specific and make just a bit more sense, I'll be glad to respond.

What in the world is "A student of American life"? What's the due date to turn in your paper?

[dullnboring]

Originally Posted by Delta Planter

live there now, or are you "assuming" that all parts of the Deep South are the same? I'm a Mississippi Delta Native, BTW, FWIW. I live in TX, now, FWIW.

I'm not from there, but my ex-girlfriend was from Bolivar County, right outside Cleveland so these aren't blind assumptions based on stereotypes. I'm not trying to slur the area by any means, just stating what I've heard and seen with my own two eyes. If other natives of the area would like to give their input that counters any assertions I made, they're more than welcome to and they certainly know more than me on the subject.

I see this has been moved to the the P&OC forum, which means that's my cue to step out.

[Delta Planter]

Originally Posted by dullnboring

I'm not from there, but my ex-girlfriend was from Bolivar County, right outside Cleveland so these aren't blind assumptions based on stereotypes. I'm not trying to slur the area by any means, just stating what I've heard and seen with my own two eyes. If other natives of the area would like to give their input that counters any assertions I made, they're more than welcome to and they certainly know more than me on the subject.

I see this has been moved to the the P&OC forum, which means that's my cue to step out.

I didn't mean to step on your toes, but it really bothers me when someone/anyone who hasn't a clue of the area makes a stretching statement. I lived IN Cleveland for 23 years, before Vietnam came along. I still have family there, and though I live in TX, Mississippi, and specifically the Delta is my home. I love it and I'd love to move back; however, medical conditions prevent it, among other things.

Again, my apologies. Fletch

[dullnboring]

Originally Posted by Delta Planter

I didn't mean to step on your toes, but it really bothers me when someone/anyone who hasn't a clue of the area makes a stretching statement. I lived IN Cleveland for 23 years, before Vietnam came along. I still have family there, and though I live in TX, Mississippi, and specifically the Delta is my home. I love it and I'd love to move back; however, medical conditions prevent it, among other things.

Again, my apologies. Fletch

No need to apologize. Mississippi gets a lot of grief from people in this country, many times just out of hearsay and from people who have no connection to the state and just join in on the bashing because it's the thing to do. Therefore so it's perfectly understandable to be a little suspect or touchy if someone has negative criticism of it that goes against what a native thinks, and fails to divulge their own connections to the area.

No worries. We're all good.