We Have The Same Struggles

Both South Africa and Mississippi have to look forward without denying the past.

By Bracey Harris

I cannot recall the first time I learned what the word freedom meant. If I had to guess, it was somewhere between the Sunday School lessons of Moses leading the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt and the patriotic pageants put on at my elementary school. And then there’s a vague memory of a daycare lesson on America involving macaroni and Cracker Jacks. However, I have learned there is a big difference in knowing what freedom is and understanding it.

The definition of freedom changes depending on whom you ask. To a reckless youth, freedom is embodied in the phrase YOLO (you only live once). To a veteran of a war, freedom has a different meaning.

In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed The Emancipation Proclamation, which freed American slaves of the Confederacy. After the Civil War, this would finally come to fruition. However, chains still exist — perhaps nowhere more than in the state of Mississippi. Second to secede from the Union, the Magnolia State has a special burden to carry for its role in the Confederacy.

It has been said by the great American novelist William Faulkner that, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Maybe he had Mississippi in mind when he wrote this. If not, he most certainly did when he penned, “In order to understand the world, one must first understand a place like Mississippi.” Our state is a paradox filled with symbols of the past with a desire to move forward.

It remains a struggle to separate heritage from hate. As supporters for the stars and bars etched on the state flag will argue, it’s pride not prejudice. However, the image of the Confederate flag, waved at pro-segregation rallies and toted by the Ku Klux Klan, lingers. Private schools set up in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling and the inevitability of desegregation are still well attended. The public schools surrounding them are mostly filled with minorities.

Today the biggest obstacle to equality is education. Mississippi’s public schools are ranked among the worst in the nation. The Jackson School District faces the loss of accreditation, while the Department of Justice’s investigations into Mississippi school districts operating as prison pipelines brings to mind those unjustly thrown onto chain gangs. When children of all races, classes and religions are able to achieve a fair education, then all will truly be free.

South Africa is a nation still grappling with the concept of freedom as well. Although apartheid has ended, its ghosts still haunt the nation and threaten to hinder its progress. Townships created during apartheid still exist. And the question of how to improve South Africa’s education system often is pushed to the back burner. Workers in platinum mines still struggle for fair pay, and police reaction to strikers has drawn comparisons to Soweto. However, hope exists. If one goes to public universities, one will see they are fairly integrated not only with white South Africans and black South Africans, but with students from other African nations as well. The current generation seems eager to move forward. There is independence and a desire for more transparency in political leaders.

Although separated by the Atlantic Ocean, Mississippi and South Africa often fight the same struggles. How to look forward to the future without denying the past poses a challenge. However, the battle can be won.