Another Mississippi burning

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

I may be wrong, but I believe that if given a word association test asking which state of the union first came to mind when accounting for the worst consequences to African Americans, most African Americans, and many others, would immediately blurt-out the name Mississippi. It’s arguable that in the history of race relations in the United States, no other state commands the reputation for racial brutality, violence and mayhem that Mississippi does. It may just be me, but, when I visit Mississippi, I sense that I’m venturing into a time and place that history has passed by.

The murders of Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and countless others, color our perception of the state and support its legacy of infamy. Nor can we forget the institutional AND personal racism directed at Fannie Lou Hamer and the army of civil rights workers who attempted to bring Mississippi out from the dark ages.

More recently (2011), white teenagers conspired and plotted violence against innocent African Americans in Jackson leading to the death of James Craig Anderson. During the trial of three of them, prosecutors said the 10 young people from a nearby suburban area drove into the poorer, predominantly Black town of Jackson to assault Black people late at night, often targeting the homeless or the intoxicated in the hopes that such people would be less likely to report crimes to the police. Three white teens were convicted of Anderson’s murder.

Mississippi, which has long been guilty of brutalizing the minds, bodies and spirits of African Americans, is seemingly reaching for a new low in the treatment of its African American citizens. Now, in a time when substantial national emphasis is generally placed on education and, at least, the successful completion of a high school career resulting in the receipt of a diploma, Mississippi is guilty of attempting to stifle the celebration of that milestone.

For four Mississippians, the graduation of their loved ones and their celebration of that event led to criminal prosecution. Two weeks after graduation, four relatives of members of the Senatobia, Mississippi High School Class of 2015 were charged with disorderly conduct for their public celebration and face a possible six months in jail and a $500 fine!

Senatobia Superintendent, Jay Foster, pressed disorderly conduct charges against the four who failed to abide by guidelines printed in the graduation program that admonished the audience to hold their applause and cheers—an instruction almost never followed. The warning also advised that anyone deemed disruptive could be removed. Foster stated that outbursts during past graduations led him to get tough. When cheering is too loud, he said, some graduates can’t hear their names called. “I hope we send them a message that everybody deserves the right to hear their child’s name called, see their child walk across stage,” he said.

Linda Walker said she was so happy to see her daughter graduate that she was crying. “When a child does all they can to graduate, it’s an honor and a privilege for them to walk that stage. It’s a privilege for me to clap and applaud,” she said. In what is reported as the worst offense, her son, Henry Walker, cheered, “You did it, baby!” when his sister’s name was called. He was promptly whisked outside. “I don’t think it was right for what they did to him,” Linda Walker told news sources.

Although I’m a proponent of appropriate decorum at public events, I’m also in-touch with the emotions of African American parents whose children present them with the gift of graduation — an accomplishment that many were never expected to achieve. Although having an African-American graduation rate slightly below the national average, three of 10 African-American Missis­sippians will not graduate. Often those who do are the first in their families to reach this milestone. The seven who do graduate are worthy of celebration.

In an environment where there’s such adversity — both overt and covert — it’s not unexpected for African-American family members to engage in exuberant rejoicing on occasions of achievement. Restricting these celebrations may suit the sensibilities of a school and expedite the movement of a program, but they undermine the public acknowledgment of the individual achievement of proud African Americans. Jail time for applauding achievement? Really? That’s a bit too much.

This article originally published in the June 15, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.