From Plantation to Poverty to Illiteracy

When Abraham Lincoln stood by his morals and finally abolished slavery in 1864. It took decades for this to come to fruition in the south. First the destruction and the reconstruction years after the civil war of 1861- 65 took its toll. The Blacks were in the middle of the Confederates, 11 southern states that wanted their own country. Their cultures, morals, ideologies were vastly different to the northern society. They wanted their slaves, their cotton and their heritage and to this day they defend it vehemently. Fifteen books, 10 civil rights documentaries, 5 long museums visitations and meeting 12 locals while living and breathing in the south was enough to know nothing…..but observation is a powerful tool.

Generation after generation told me that change was and is hard. I believe if it was another race of people things might have gone differently. Many people Black and White simply said this is the way it has been done for so long………we aren’t speaking of 10 or even 50 years we are talking 350 years, and as an outsider we might all be appalled but I learned that time changes hearts very slowly when you have nowhere to go and for so many there wasn’t and isn’t a reason to change, so why change…..

When the Freedom Rider’s came to Mississippi in the summer of 61, lives were changed forever and mainly for the Whites and Black’s that came south, not those living there. Hundreds of students applied to come south and live with the local Blacks. The girls that applied were scrutinized for they couldn’t have known that their lives were truly at stake. They worked setting up school and providing daily education classes for the Blacks in the small towns. They lived with the Blacks for that summer while many of the males travelled to the Black communities to try and register them to vote. Numerous local whites that wanted to comprehend the movement were forever shunned for having dinner, or even speaking with the Freedom Rider’s. The fear that Mississippi’s/Alabama's/Georgia's and the good folks of Tennessee's lifestyle, the one that the whites had established for themselves, was going to be altered, terrified people and instead of comprehending that the Blacks were entitled to the right to vote they would rather suppress them as long as they could.

Fear constricts the mindset tightening the reins on society. They brought in armored cars, caged trucks to house the hundreds of protestors, and mobilized many jails to house all those that disrupted the peace. The police: municipal, state and local FBI were in no way going to assist the Freedom Riders and anyone else who sympathized with the Blacks. Phobia’s spread like wild fire on airwaves, newspapers daily indoctrination of what the Blacks would do if they got the right to vote was rampant and fabricated. The whites feared they would vote their own people in and take over the state and all the white would have to move out. Doesn’t this sound all too familiar in South Africa? This hasn’t been the case to this day, 60 years later. The KKK hadn’t set up in Mississippi at that point but they had the Citizen Council, which was a duplicate. All white became members even if they didn’t agree with all the methodology to quiet the Blacks. The major of all four states belonged to the KKK during the 60's and watching their speeches, hatred and insolent behavior of the Blacks was overwhelming.

Johnson wasn’t in Atlanta during the Delegates Convention of 61’ when Fannie Lou Hamer spoke her defence on behalf of the MFDP that was looking to be recognized as a party. The delegates gave them a compromise that was too insulting to take so they refused it. While M.L. King, Henson and she were testifying the entire nation was watching them on national television. Johnson who had tried to stop the Freedom Party unsuccessfully many times and wished them to disappear, as he was going through a mental breakdown of what to do with the “Niggras”, as he called them, came up with a plan.  He realized that the nation would sympathize with Fannie’s story about being bullied, beaten and being fired from her plantation job. While her speech was being filmed the cameras were instructed to cut to Mr. Johnson at the White House where he made a commemoration speech about someone who had died 9 months ago. The nation went wild demanding that they be shown her full testimony and the next day they were forced to show it. Johnson’s plan back fired and he was never forgiven nationwide for the disgraceful behavior that he shown towards all Black’s in America.

Mrs. Hamer like many other were fired from their jobs on the plantations and to this day illiteracy exists amongst so many Black’s it actually exceeds the numbers in the 70’s. The state to this day has a five grade point policy that all schools need to reach a level of 3 -5 to receive proper funding. The problem is for many schools, attracting teachers is difficult because the wages are so low, with no possible industry investments in many towns and cities because those running the plants and those working at them want their children to have the best education, a vicious cycle exist.

As I drove through smaller towns their main streets were boarded up with only fast food, gas and accommodation appearing on the highways. The cotton fields were employment was possible were know being run by machines leaving people to move away from family to make ends meet. I stopped off to take photos of the cotton plantations several times never seeing a sole around. Getting low on gas I pulled into Gloria’s gas station. It was a quiet intersection about a mile outside of town and as I was paying for gas I watched the locals interact. When the two white customers entered to pay they never looked up at Gloria standing behind the desk. No words were exchanged, they simply pushed the money across the desk. I could feel the tension in my throat tightening, and my shoulders too. I leaned over the desk when they left and quietly asked if we could chat. I hadn’t planned this, it just struck me odd, that no eye contact, no pleasantries, no thank-you, nothing was said. Gloria’s entire being was one of grace, she was a tall women, spoke well and exuded warmth once she knew I wasn’t a threat. Her eyes told of a girl that hadn’t been given the opportunities this great country of theirs declares for all its citizens. Born in a country town to illiterate parents with 11 siblings education wasn’t the priority, a home, clothing and food came first, they were short on all three.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question about the south? I am from Canada and visiting the south learning about your civil rights?”

“Sure.”

“Do you know the men that just entered the shop?”

“Yessum, they get their gas here most days.”

“Do they ever speak to you?”

“No,….. they don’t.”

As her shoulder’s relaxed with mine she began to tell me about working at the factory she’d been at for 20 years. She’d been asked to be the supervisor of her section a while ago but had never been paid for it. She eventually asked for her rightful raise and was met with bewilderment, then games and to this day, she has never received any further pay for a lot more responsibility. Several weeks ago she approached her boss again and was told,

“Gloria, because you know so much we need to keep you in this position, but if you want to go back to working on the floor as you have asked, you’ll have to quit.” The last time she wrote me she was trying to figure out what she was going to do. She needed the work, but not that bad that she was going to do others people’s work for free. Just as I was going to exit the station her friend walked in.

“Jesse, she said, Can you talk to this lady?”

He had just been fired as a police officer two weeks ago.

“I was on patrol when one of our politicians was driving DUI and I pulled him over. I called my superior and asked him what to do? He said use your good judgement and I’ll back your decision. I decided not to ticket him, simply to get him a taxi home and tow his car to his house. The next day at work I was fired. I am protesting it, but they are all in this together. Even Black’s will take the side of a white superior if they think it will lead them to a raise, or promotion. The aspect of truth has left the force. I don’t know if it ever existed, look at our past he said and smiled.”

I stood for a second prior to responding.

“Do you have any recourse, or any possibility of getting your job back?”

“He raised his eye brow and said, it’s under review right now.”

Several more white folks entered the shop as I moved to the back out of the way and continued to observe their behavior. It was truly as if Gloria didn’t exist, not a child, mother or man looked up at her. I wanted to scream something, but what, wake up, this is a human being. I left the shop after thanking both of them for their time, and we all said we’d pray for one another.

I knew righteousness was something I’d fought for since high school when I demanded to our principal that ALL students deserved to attend their graduation regardless of financial difficulty. And from there I’d joined all sorts of University coalitions, unions, associations, councils and community boards to see that all are treaty and receive equal treatment.