Living in the south.....

Living in the south, Mississippi, I have gotten used to the snide comments from people who think it is still pre-segregation down here. People are always making some comment about 'Mississippi Burning' and wondering if it is safe for people of color to live here. Yes, we do have apologies to make about the way people were treated here. Especially during the 60s. I am glad to see the klansman on trial for the murders of the three freedom fighters. I am glad that it is still being investigated and I pray that all who were involved with be prosecuted.

I am also aware that racism is not confined to the south. I see racism and prejudice in the north. However, since I am a white woman, if I say that racism is worse or rampant in other parts of the country, then I am looked at as if I am denying the south's past. I am not. I remember watching grown men and women in Boston picket the integration of the schools. This was after schools in the south were integrated.

I have a friend who went with me to see John Grisham's "A Time To Kill'. In the middle of the movie, he leaned over and told me that Mississippi has a lot to make up for and that we might not overcome the past. This from a man who had not even met a black person until he joined the army. And, his grandmother had a 'Jap' who did her yard work. Apparently racism is ok if it is anywhere other the south. His mother came to visit and was surprised that my neighborhood is mixed. She had a Mexican who cleaned her house. But, she did not like nor did she trust Mexicans. And, one Mexican family had the nerve to move in next door to her.

Seems some people are too busy pointing fingers at others to check themselves. These same people are busy putting up a front of liberal anti-racism.

Yesterday, I heard Morgan Freeman, a black man and native of Mississippi say that there is more racism in the other parts of the country than there is in Mississippi. He said that it is more insidious. He can live anywhere in the world he wants to. He chooses to live in Mississippi.