jfp op/ed
opining, grousing & pontificating
EDITORIAL
Time to Swim, not Sink, Together
W
ith evidence everywhere that good public education is key to our city and our state’s economic future, not to mention public safety, it is time that to slay the dinosaurs of the past who don’t want to fund or reform education in a way that makes sense for the most children. OK, we don’t mean to literally slay them, but it is time for legislators and votes to get unstuck from the time warp that says that tax dollars should not help “the other.” In his posthumously published book “My Mississippi,” Willie Morris warned in no uncertain terms that the biggest challenge facing the state is that, due to our ugly history, too many Mississippians do not understand that we sink or swim together. He specifically talked about the unequal public-education system, a leftover from the days of segregated schools and counties, and the tragedy that is the people who don’t want their taxes to help pay for others to have a good education. (Many of the same people, or their grandparents, were fine with this tax expenditure back when the schools were segregated, remember.) Morris quoted his friend, the historian Patti Carr-Black: “It’s curious,” she said, “but Mississippi lacks a sense of community. We have a deep sense of place, but no sense of ‘we’re in this together, let’s make life better for everyone.” Then Morris continued: “Segregation dominated the 20th century, and, although it was outlawed 30 years ago, it lives in our spirit. White society has been in power throughout our history, and it has lacked the will to deal with social problems because it has wrongly perceived the main beneficiaries to be black. We’ve not comprehended that we sink or swim together.” And even if you don’t give a damn about your neighbor, the truth is that the selfish thing to do is to support quality public education for all. If we don’t, then the entire community suffers—from crime, from shrinking tax bases, brain drain to other state of our smartest young people, increasing health-care costs, bad roads (because all that tax base moved elsewhere), and so on. We “bleeding hearts” aren’t the only bearers of these facts these days. We are happy to see the business community join us on this podium. Read Blake Wilson’s interview (on page 19) about why Mississippi’s work force (and thus all of our economic futures) depends on a good education system. And he’s not talking about passing out vouchers; he means funding public education as well as early childhood education. The next-generation business community in Mississippi is starting to wise up about education and how it affects all of us. Wilson’s point that you can’t run public schools like businesses. But you sure can run them in a way that benefits businesses and, thus, our economic strength. No matter your ethnicity or economic situation, please join the widening chorus in our state calling for strong, fully funded public education that benefits us all. Playing politics on the backs of children, and our future, must end here.
STIGGERS
Gainful Employment
B
February 15 - 21, 2012
oneqweesha Jones: “It’s me on the scene, reporting live from the Black History Job Fair held at the Clubb Chicken Wing Multi-Purpose Complex. Despite the unemployment rate dropping from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent in January, a lot of jobless folk have come to the Black History Job Fair to apply for gainful employment during this Great Recession. With me is the honorable Congressman Smokey ‘Robinson’ McBride, the organizer of this event. “What is the Black History Job Fair all about, Congressman Smokey?” Congressman Smokey ‘Robinson’ McBride: “’Qweesha, it’s nice to see the unemployment rate down a little. I’m sure it’s good news for my fellow politicians, our president and those who are employed. “But, still, many mid-career, long-term unemployed and unskilled workers, plus recent college graduates, are left behind. Some folk will feel like the lone player who didn’t make the team. Other folk will believe they have failed in life. “My purpose is to celebrate and make history by encouraging the workers who remain jobless in 2012. I will not condescend or criticize people who feel betrayed by the government, politicians, corporations, etc. Instead, I will use the stories of people like Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells Barnett, and Ella Baker to motivate the despondent and defeated masses still looking for a job with health-care benefits. “The party is not over until everyone gets a job. And without any struggle in this matter, there is no progress.” 12 Boneqweesha Jones: “Congressman, you’ve said a mouthful.”
KAMIKAZE
Year of the Underdog
I
’m drawn to stories of the underdog—the little guy or gal triumphant against seemingly insurmountable odds. Of course, I was interested (as most of us were) in the saga of Tim Tebow this past football season. You either liked him or you hated him, but either way, he sparked passions in football fans everywhere. Even the non-conventional fan couldn’t get enough of the week-to-week melodrama that was Tebow. Here’s a guy who, despite conventional football wisdom, despite seemingly “bad mechanics,” was able to win football games. Each week was supposed to be the week that “Tebowmania” ended, but no one sent Tim the memo. Or maybe you’re more familiar with Jeremy Lin, the Asian American basketball player from Harvard. Two NBA teams cut Lin this year, and he languished at the end of the New York Knicks bench. Word is, he was about to be cut again until two Knick starters got hurt and he was forced into action. Four games and a scoring record in tow, Lin is poised to start for the wayward Knicks squad, and folks are again wondering when the “magic” will wear off. No Harvard-educated Asian who sleeps on his brother’s couch is supposed to be any good at basketball, right? This past Sunday, singer Adele grabbed six Grammy Awards. Thing is, she did it with just her voice and her powerful words. No dancing,
no fluff, no size-4 body in a tight suit—just singing. For all intents and purposes, Adele shouldn’t be so successful in this day of Auto-tune, lip syncing and cookie-cutter pop tunes. All that kind of reminds me of Jackson. In this very city there are several Tim Tebows and Jeremy Lins languishing on the proverbial “bench” waiting for an opportunity to contribute to this city, asking for their number to be called. But the pundits overlook them. They don’t have the right pedigree, belong to the right clique or have the right amount of money. These underdogs defy conventional wisdom but can be useful, I’m sure, if our city’s “coaches” and “general managers” start thinking outside of the box. Hell, Jackson is an underdog itself and, though our naysayers have counted us out, we continue to fight, we live another day, and we fight some more. 2012 is the year of the underdog, the year we can make the impossible plausible. It’s the year we tell all these folks what they can do with their stats and figures. Remember, it was some producer somewhere that took one look at Adele and said, “You can never be a star.” Sunday night, that guy was somewhere kicking himself in his own arse for making that mistake. And that’s the truth ... shonuff.
Email letters to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019, or mail to P.O. Box 5067, Jackson, Miss., 39296. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Or write a 300-600-word “Your Turn” and send it by email, fax or mail above with a daytime phone number. All submissions are subject to fact checks.