I live in Mississippi, and I've never heard the N-word as many times...

[Maddy McCall]

in all of my 40 years as I heard it in the movie "A Time to Kill."

And I DON'T live a sheltered life. I know that racism is alive and well, not just in Mississippi, but across the whole USA, and I have a wide spectrum of acquaintances and friends.

I think that the N-word nearly died out with the 50s Klan generation.

Last night I went to the town hall in my small town to watch election results as they were tallied. There was an equally interracial crowd in attendance, sharing soda pops, cookies, chips, and laughs. We all were together from 7PM until well after 1AM. There were no straight white ballots and no straight black ballots. After the results were tallied, our town found out that it has a black mayor and an interracial town council. Everyone was happy and optimistic about the next four years.

Racism is still alive, I'm sure. But small towns across the south are at the vanguard of successful interracial relations. I just wanted to share my experience last night, and to let you know that "A Time to Kill" does NOT represent my small town.

[RPM]

1. that movie is on pace with NWA's Straight outta Compton CD...

for gratuitous use of the N word...

[Rowdyboy]

2. Its funny, Maddy, my town had a runoff between 2 black candidates

The incumbent and a city selectman. Turnout was high among blacks and whites and-the best man (IMO) won. Our board of selectmen is 5 black, 2 white and they seem to work pretty well together.

A few miles south in Jackson (the state capitol for those who don't know), a black law-and-order Democrat beat a black conservative Republican 88%-11%.

My birthplace, hometown of Laurel, Mississippi (which is more than 50% white) elected its first black mayor.

You guys up north and out west: eat your hearts out. We in Mississippi, black and white, have at least started to deal with our racial problems down here. You clowns are just beginning.

[Maddy McCall]

5. AMEN, brother.

I was so glad that Melton beat Whitlow. You'd have thought that Republicans would have learned from the Keyes travesty that their strategy wouldn't work.

:toast:

[Redstone]

9. You've more than started;

I, a Northerner, was quite pleasantly surprised at the lack of racial friction I saw in Mississippi when I hung around there back in the 1970s.

You've done well. Too bad that more people in other parts of the country don't know it.

Redstone

[Rowdyboy]

15. You really have no idea how sweet your words are....

I just wish more people understood. Its really a different place than it was when I grew up in the 1950-1960's. We seem to have learned from our mistakes, at least a little.

On the negative side, in 2003 we had a SUPERBLY qualified black Dem nominee for state treasurer who lost to a 29 year old, totally unqualified white boy. We're not there yet, not by a long shot. But we're trying and we're on the right path.

Thanks for the kind words, and seeing beyond the stereotypes of the deep south. Not many people can.

[funkybutt]

19. Very True!

We get a bad rep down here on racial issues. I think we have more integrated communities than most.


http://www.magnjc.com:8000/gallery

[BamaLefty]

13. Awesome News.

That's the way it should have always been my friend.

And it is getting better in AL. Don't let me give the hint that its not.

[Deja Q]

3. Try watching just one episode of "Dave Chappelle's Show"...

:wow:

[Frances]

4. Thanks for the report

It is good news.

Do you know how your town voted in the last presidential election? In other words, did the whites support Bush and the African Americans support Kerry? Or was there mixed support for each candidate?

[Maddy McCall]

6. I'd have to look back at results, but we had a lot of white Kerry support

here. Our Democratic Executive Committee in our county is half black-half white.

[salin]

7. while racism is alive in the north and northwest

(where I have lived) - and in the midwest (where I grew up and have returned) - it is a bit more covert (and thus insidious). However I had never heard the N word used more frequently nor casually than when I had a serious significant other in Birmingham (ALabama) - who was a former college ball player - get those guys together to watch games - and the language shocked the h*ll out of me.

I am not saying this is worse than the racism I have witnessed in other areas.. but it was a lot more vocal and frequent (ergo - much more out in the open). This was in the late 9os .. I can attest that the word has not died out in all areas of the south (and probably not all areas of the north as well.)

Shameful.

And in the north where the attitudes still persist even if the language doesn't match it - just as shameful.

[Maddy McCall]

8. Hi, Salin!

:loveya:

[salin]

10. Hiya Maddy!

:toast: Hope all is well with you - and that you are taking care of yourself while you tend to others and have to cater to the whims of "the committee." :hi:

[Maddy McCall]

12. I've indulged myself TOO MUCH for the past six months.

But, after eight years of back-breaking, mind-numbing hoop jumping, I think I deserve it. :D

[salin]

16. many folks I know who "got through"

had a period of no/little production... and then a couple of months and voila... DONE! Not to worry - you seem to be following that pattern :D - you will know when you have the energy to do the last push to Voila! :loveya:

[BamaLefty]

11. I can't say the same.

I wish I could... maybe MS is ahead of Alabama.

I say that, there are SOME blacks that are accepted... but you have to have money first.

Sad.

[Maddy McCall]

14. I hate to say it, but I think we are ahead of Alabama on race relations.

You guys will catch up, I hope.

[fishnfla]

17. Is perception reality?

'cuz some DUers think that the south is all racist and redneck and up in Bush's ass.

When the truth is, after years of race relations, when it comes to the heart of the matter, the south is light years ahead of the rest of the country, especially the bush white bread heartland, where racism's ignorant manure really festers.

Do tell, Mississippi, but dont expect folks to understand. The perception is ingrained. Dont expect folks who aint ever stepped a foot on the delta to understand any other way but what the movie showed

[Maddy McCall]

18. If I could nominate single posts, I'd nominate yours.

Brilliantly put. :hi:

[amazona]

20. sure but isn't it set in the past?

Good Lord, "Time to Kill" came out quite some while ago! Admit it, when we were younger, we heard the n-word quite frequently throughout the south.

Mississippi has changed a great deal, and it is indeed exciting to see the changes, it gives you hope.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Maddy McCall]

21. No, it's not set in the past. Supposedly present-day Mississippi.

If it would have been set in the fifties or sixties, I might agree with the story line. But not modern-day Mississippi.

[amazona]

34. it can't be Modern Day Mississippi cuz it's an old movie!

I just checked. The movie is 1996 -- which means it was made 10 years ago, a whole decade. The book was published in 1989, which means it was written in the 1980s!

The people of Mississippi are actually pretty tickled by Grisham's success. Haven't you ever driven by that sign, "Welcome to Canton, home of "A Time to Kill," we hope you have some time to kill with us?"

Most people caught up in violent crime don't worry too much about throwing a few cuss words around. I'd let it go.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[AZGamer]

22. I have family in MS, live in AZ and lived in DC

And I have to tell you...

I've seen more confederate flags in AZ than I ever did in MS. The ones I did see in MS were generally accompanied by a "my grandfather was a veteran" type thing, and rarely would you see anyone come out and do a Dave Chapelle style "world's biggest white supremacist" style bit.

Here, it's really hard to tell what people mean by them. Yes, I do believe that there was one battle out here between the Confederacy and the Union, I don't remember who won; I think at the time the people supported whichever side was willing to station troops here to take care of coyotes (and I'm talking the animals, not the animals that drive people up here in cars without regard for lives).

I think the South has had problems with racial relations, but they're very open to dealing with it (speaking from experiences in Laurel/Hattieburg area of MS). I think in the North and Southwest it still exists, but no one is willing to say it.

[Maddy McCall]

25. Welcome to DU, AZGamer!

I'm a USM gal, here. Thanks for your very insightful post, and WELCOME to DU! Hope you stay with us for a while. :toast:

[iconoclastic cat]

32. Oh, hell, I'll say it!

Illinois is racist a hell. I've seen dummies in blackface hung by nooses in poeple's garages (as I was driving along isolated side streets in Carbondale).

[xmas74]

23. What brought this on?

Just curious.
I rarely hear that word in Missouri anymore. I know that it is still used but usually not in mixed company (as we still refer to it when men and women are together). The last time I heard that word was from my cousin and she's convinced that she's going to be in a gang.
Otherwise, I almost never hear it anymore.

[Maddy McCall]

24. I was watching "A Time to Kill" tonight.

I heard the N word about, oh, a thousand times in the movie. I am NOT desensitized to it, because I never hear it. Anyway, it just made me want to relay want a pleasant time I had a the polls last night, and I wanted to let DUers who don't live in the south know taht we ain't all like that! :D

Go read the LBN story I just posted! Edgar Ray Killen, who murdered Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, is being reprosecuted for his crime in Mississippi. The wheels of justice turn here, even if slow, and this evil bastard will pay for his crime by sitting the remainder of his worthless life in jail.

[xmas74]

26. That movie made me wince too!

And I will definitely check out the LBN post. I just left the feminist group so it's time to hang out somewhere else.

[Maddy McCall]

27. I never stop in on the Feminist Group as much as I should.

I need to stop in and celebrate the fact that a small town near me elected a majority woman town council yesterday! Woohoo! :woohoo:

[xmas74]

28. That is fantastic! We need more women in government-

especially on the local level.
I just stopped in tonight for the first time in the feminist group. I felt very comfortable there for the most part. Maybe some of our ideas might be slightly different about how to address and correct our plight but I still side w/ my sisters on the main arguments. I hope to check back there often and maybe obtain assistance in how to raise my daughter to be a contributing member of our society and a shining example of everything that is right with feminism.
I like the idea of a group. I just tend to join groups and then forget to go back and post! Maybe I do spend too much time in the Lounge. I'll think I'll be visiting that group again soon.

[B0S0X87]

29. Talk about Irony

I just saw "A Time to Kill" on HBO. Great acting especially from Bullock and Jackson.

And yeah, a lot of the n-word.

[Maddy McCall]

30. Yeah, that's what made me think about how unlike reality it is.

It was a pretty good flick, though.

[iconoclastic cat]

31. At work, I hear it 5-10 times an hour.

But then, I'm a high school teacher at a public school in Chicago.

[nini]

33. " I think that the N-word nearly died out with the 50s Klan generation"

The 'word' and the Klan types have not nearly died out.. they just stay behind he scenes or have changed their method of existence these days.

Ask Black people all over this country if they still hear that word directed at them. I bet they have.


In general things are somewhat better - I agree to a point - but there are plenty of nutcases still out there that I'm sure throw the word around plenty when they're with their own folks.


I saw a show about a workplace murder (60 minutes?) - I think it was Lockheed - somewhere in the south. It was a white racist who killed 6 or 7 Black coworkers and one white one. The people interviewed threw the N word out like it was nothing.

I'm glad your area is better but I wouldn't get too excited to say the N word died out with the 50s Klan quite yet. Sadly there are many of those kinds left in this country.

[amazona]

35. nini is right -- "A Time to Kill" written in the 80s

I guarantee plenty of people were using the n-word then all over the place. The sixties/seventies were truly dead and the first glimmerings of hate radio were giving this type of person a renewed boldness.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[BikeWriter]

36. I heard it here in Texas a few days ago from someone I never...

would have suspected of it.

[markam]

37. Mississippi is not racist

I have lived in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and I now live in Pennsylvania. Pa is incredibly more racist than the south. Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) has 120 towns. 110 of them are 99+% white, and the other 10 are overwhelmingly black. Most people would move if a black family moved in next door.

People here look at me like I am from another planet when I tell them that I went to a high school that was 40% black.