Mississippi Burning

“Mississippi Burning” is the 1988 movie starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe about 2 FBI agents sent to Mississippi in 1964 to investigate the deaths of 3 civil rights workers in a small town in Mississippi.  That is a movie, but today’s runoff in the Mississippi special election to replace Republican Senator Thad Cochran who retired for health reasons, is not a movie; is not an event that can just be swept away.  There may not be cross burnings and lynchings any more, but this special election between Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy has been full of controversies and racial underpinnings.

 

Politico’s headline reads “Mississippi race is Hyde-Smith’s to lose” and in my opinion, she should lose, but I am sure she won’t.

Politico — Donald Trump returned to Mississippi on Monday to squash any Democratic hopes of closing out the 2018 midterms with a miracle.

The president held two rallies with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith on the eve of a runoff to ensure his base turns out to vote in a race that was expected to be much less competitive just weeks ago. Democrats saw an opening to potentially contest the race after a controversial remark the Republican senator made about being first in line to attend a “public hanging.”

Republicans responded with a massive, party-wide investment to prevent a repeat of their disastrous special election loss in Alabama last year. National money and staff from both parties flooded in as the race tightened heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.

Republicans remain confident Hyde-Smith will win, but Trump’s visit shows the party is leaving nothing to chance.

“Don’t take any chances,” Trump implored his supporters at the first rally. “You have to vote. We cannot allow Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to erode [GOP control of the Senate] by winning the great state of Mississippi.”

Hyde-Smith, speaking at Trump’s second rally of the evening, said she was grateful to Gov. Phil Bryant for appointing her to fill the seat earlier this year following former Sen. Thad Cochran’s retirement, and called on Republicans to turn out to elect her for the remainder of the term.

“It is such a critical election tomorrow, we have got to go out,” Hyde-Smith said. “What’s on the ballot tomorrow is not just my name, Cindy Hyde-Smith, it is your conservative values.”

Salon — … has found herself in the middle of yet another scandal.

According to CNN, Hyde-Smith co-sponsored a resolution in Mississippi’s state Senate in 2007 that praised a Confederate soldier for his efforts to “defend his homeland.” She reportedly also pushed a “revisionist view of the Civil War.” The measure, which can be found online, is the latest in a series of controversies that have embattled Hyde-Smith during her campaign, many of which have been interpreted by critics and political observers as having a link to Mississippi’s long history of racism and slavery.  …

News of the measure comes as Hyde-Smith faces mounting backlash for “joking” that she would sit “in the front row” at a “public hanging” in a state marred by its history of lynchings and after she said voting should be “a little more difficult” for “liberal folks” — remarks she maintains were made in jest. On Sunday, it was revealed that Hyde-Smith attended and graduated from a “segregation academy.” Last week, photos surfaced of Hyde-Smith sporting Confederate soldier gear.

Mississippi Senate race sees new controversy in ‘segregation academy’ revelation

MS Senate race marred by racial controversies

Mike Espy responds to Trump as racial tensions simmer in Mississippi senate race

I am a Canadian who grew up in Canada in the 50s and 60s, during the US civil rights era.  I remember seeing news footage of the marches with MLK Jr and others like Rep John Lewis of Georgia, the cross burnings, the talk of lynchings, segregation of schools . . . and I never understood why this all was happening.  After all, for me, people are people, all equal and that is how I was raised.  Let me also say that I am also aware of my white privilege, although at the time I was not.

The hate that is so manifest in Trump and the Republicans makes no sense to me in many ways, but it is something that must be addressed.  In my mind, with the NY Times announcing that Hyde-Smith won today’s run-off, the hate has not been addressed.  Hyde-Smith is up for re-election in 2020, at the same time as Trump.  The hate must be addressed then if not before.