The opinions and question frames of @wlox anchor @DaveWLOX are among most interesting parts of @ashtonpittman’s followup to his viral story on SofS’s “woke college students” remarks. #TVNewsMS
I think the President (son of deceased founder of Gray Television) stapped down from the board in January to become national chief political analyst. This is getting interesting.
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It's cute to watch the NO THE PARTIES DIDN'T SWITCH crowd try to reconstruct arguments on the fly when presented with evidence that it is established historic fact that white Dems fled to the new Republican Party bc national Dems embraced civil rights—and took racism with them.
Whole GOP strategy to save itself was appeal to the old Dixiecrats and their ilk. It's why politics are so broken + putrid today. All the bullshit grasping at the past to maintain and consolidate power as white America moves rapidly toward becoming the minority. Whiteness, man.
Now, mind you, Dixiecrats did not take all the bigotry (and sexism) with them to the GOP. We all know this, or should.
1. I'm inspired by @NicLott, @jarvisdortch, others to share @msfreepress and other clips involving L.Q.C. Lamar. First, learn about the Mississippi Plan (remember LQC Lamar and most white southerners were Democrats then, well before party switch): nps.gov/vick/learn/his…
2. L.Q.C. Lamar (who much of Oxford, Miss. is named for) was a slaver and rapid white supremacist (and opportunist) as we show here: this along means he deserves no statue anywhere: mississippifreepress.org/4351/the-past-…
3. L.Q.C. Lamar was a fire-eater racist who WROTE Mississippi's Articles of Secession. He was an Emory grad, and they've had a reckoning over him: news.emory.edu/stories/2022/0…
In research today, I ran across this program for Jackson convention for Mississippi's "Patriotic American Youth," where segregationists and red-baiters worked hard to create the next generation of, well, you know.
But I'm sharing it now because the "Coke breaks" tickled me.
The group, by the way, was started by Mrs. Sara McCorkle, the highest ranking woman Citizens Council leader in Mississippi, as far as I can tell. She was in charge of youth propaganda.
It's also funny that these genuises misspelled "patriotic" on the flyer for the convention the year before in downtown Jackson. Oh and read about the man giving the first night's address here (yikes): . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S.…
1. Just clipped this for y'all for a quick Mississippi segregation academy lesson from early 1970s. There were racist segs (whites-only) and there were Citizens Council school run by Bill Simmons & his goons. Here: Hanging Moss, Manhattan, McCluer, Adams Cty Private were Council
2. Union Acad, Brandon Acad, Amite Acad, Copiah, Indianola Acad, Simpson Acad, Bayou Acad, Greenville Christian (I think), Pillow Acad, Jackson Prep were whites-only academies. Many more.
Council schools more overtly taught that Black people were born inferior; thus couldn't mix
3. Also several private schools today started as *Council* schools. That includes HIllcrest Christian Acad in South Jackson (started as Council McCluer where Phil Bryant went), Central Hinds Academy and one of the Rankin County academies.
All, please don’t be shocked that Mississippi has *always* been run as a state to provide spoils to wealthy white men with media’s complicity, either directly or by focusing on trivia and horse races. It is systemic corruption built and maintained to multiply, feed itself forward
Fixing this racist, misogynistic power system is going to take far more than convicting Klansmen from 60 years ago or exposing politicians recently out of office.
It will take a full interrogation of the systems that allow corruption to continuing propagating—and media’s role.
Public must demand that media interrogate every system including how info flows or doesn’t. Since Barbour, those who control state govt squelch free press daily, from freezing out “unfriendly” journalists to demanding written questions to only giving statements. They demonize.
It’s as good a day as any for all Mississippi journalism outlets to start questioning how much corruption and incompetence exists here in state government including among officials still in office.
Start being proactive rather than reactive. No sacred cows. It’s the job,
Caution, though: Careful journslism process is important in this arena to avoid being set up or used, or paying price when your target isn’t indicted or is acquitted. This is training everyone needs.
Advice: Don’t characterize in reporting or on social media. Show, don’t tell.
If you’re using leaked info from unnamed sources, be careful about veracity and motives. You or preferably editor must explain everything possible about those sources and WHY not disclosing them. Don’t be blinded by juicy docs; question the long game at hand.