Mississippi State responds to racial inequality in the U.S

By Ava Richardson

Not long after the global COVID-19 pandemic began impacting the United States in March of 2020, another pressing issue also took center stage— racial inequality. The discussion of race and police violence in the U.S. was revived in May when George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, was killed in Minneapolis while in police custody and lying face down in handcuffs. Floyd’s death sparked an eruption of protests, rallies and civil unrest across the country on a scale not seen since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

National unrest prompted Mississippians to also discuss race and police violence, a conversation leading many to call for the removal of the state flag, originally adopted in 1894 and depicting a Confederate symbol. In June, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey issued a statement, with support from the NCAA, that the conference would not hold any championship events in Mississippi until the Confederate flag was changed.

Mississippi State University, under the leadership of President Mark E. Keenum, along with seven other public universities and their respective presidents, supported the SEC decision, saying, “… we are committed to continuing to do our part to ensure Mississippi is united in its pursuit of a future that is free of racism and discrimination. Such a future must include a new state flag.”

MSU’s efforts to create greater equity, justice, tolerance and reconciliation on campus and in the Starkville community included pursuing a new state flag, along with numerous other measures.

“Over the past months, MSU has stepped up to address issues that

have historically divided our state and nation,” Keenum said.

“During the 2020 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature, the Bulldog family helped bring about a change of the 1894 state flag,” Keenum said. “We were effective as part of a number of Mississippi stakeholders in making this change possible. We have also joined a local coalition committed to seeking solutions to racism and paths to racial reconciliation. It includes Starkville Stand Up, the City of Starkville, Oktibbeha County, the Oktibbeha County NAACP chapter, Starkville Oktibbeha County School District, members of the area legislative delegation and MSU.”

MSU has taken additional steps to address the issues of race and police violence, including MSU Police Department officers joining with the Starkville Police Department for expanded professional development training on culturally responsive policing strategies.

MSU’s Holmes Cultural Diversity Center and the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion also have hosted a series of “Racial Roundtable Conversations” for students, faculty and staff. Two “Understanding Racial Trauma” workshops were held for supervisors as well.

“Moving forward, we plan to continue to offer programming and speakers that address the importance and value of diversity and that shed light on the challenges we face as a society,” Keenum said.

Starting with the Fall 2020 semester, MSU implemented a sociology-based curriculum through its criminology program that raises inequality awareness through a Department of Sociology bachelor’s degree that “emphasizes the study of types, patterns, and trends in criminal behavior; social causes; and social response to crime and its effect on society.”

Keenum believes this will enhance students’ understanding of social inequalities and will be beneficial because many of the students in the program are future law enforcement officers and leaders.

Recent MSU graduate Jailyn A. Myers, who earned a degree in criminology, had the opportunity to take some of the classes offered within this curriculum such as CRM2003 Crime Justice Inequality; SO3353 Race, Crime and Justice; and SO3343 Gender, Crime and Justice.

“These classes were very rewarding,” the Jackson native said. “They really change your thought process when learning how society functions based on social constructs that ultimately mean nothing. By showing that the system was giving value to these social constructs, my professors really established a good learning foundation with America’s history of allowing inequality to exist for so long.”

“These courses will be more than just helpful to our future leaders,” Myers said. “The classes are teaching our students how to be impartial and knowledgeable about the injustices that are taking place in America today.”

Myers said she appreciates the measures the university has taken to address the challenges the U.S. faces because these steps “create great leaders.”

“When leaders have this education embedded in them, they make better decisions, America receives better laws, and this country becomes a better place for everyone,” Myers said.

Ava J. Richardson

Ava is a senior communication

major with a concentration in public

relations and broadcasting. The

Flowood native currently serves as a

student worker within MSU’s College

of Arts and Sciences for the Director

of Communication. After graduation in

April 2021, Richardson hopes to work

in the fields of education or health

through public relations.