As I enjoy myself in Biloxi, MS, I can only wonder about how things used to be in one of the most dreaded states in the Union for African-Americans. Looking around and seeing so many blacks, not as workers and servers, but also as vacationers and travelers, I find it hard to believe how things were 50 years ago or even less. I am sure my black readers do not find it hard to believe. Racism is like a wound that has not fully healed. If anyone gets too near to the injury, often an over the top reaction is in order.
I am sure my black readers do not find it hard to believe. Racism is like a wound that has not fully healed. If anyone gets too near to the injury, often an over the top reaction is in order.
White people must be aware of this wound and stop saying that they had nothing to do with slavery which happened 150 years ago. True enough, but we need to be cognizant that injustices happened, and it takes a long time for such a deep wound to heal.
I know that black people do not want to hear we are sorry. That is not enough. When you broke the lamp as a kid and told your mama you were sorry, was that enough? Of course not. The lamp was still broken and would be sorely missed for a long time.
Everyone wants to be understood and not judged because they are different. Hard thing to do because so many of us have been ingrained to believe that different is wrong. Take a look around: churches, countries, nationalities, teams,etc. Tolerance is only a word; few actually believe it.
Tolerance is only a word; few actually believe it.
I used to look at motorcycle gangs and make derogatory judgments. Sorry, Sons of Anarchy. I was stupid. Everyone is looking to be accepted in a group. Who the hell am I to look down on anyone? Cookie Marsh’s father said it best, “The only time you look down on someone is to bend over to help him or her up.”
And now the title reference: Jim Crow laws were a despicable aftermath of the emancipation enacted in the late 19th century and enforced through 1963 and the Civil Rights Act but even then failed enforcement.
Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice became famous but should have become infamous by his portrayal of Jim Crow, a fictitious negro whom crowds of whites laughingly mocked as they flooded into theaters. Adding insult to injury, when southern legislatures enacted segregation laws, they chose the name “Jim Crow Laws.”
Though they are no longer mercifully in effect, whites should know about them to understand the wound and stay away from it or face the consequences.
I just don’t know if the title should have been “Nothing to Crow About” or “Something to Crow About.”
