Cindy Hyde-Smith Says She Never Lost Faith in Mississippi
Some humor, sarcasm, and disappointment.
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI (The Borowitz Report)—Celebrating her election victory on Tuesday night, U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith said that, despite predictions that her state was ready to turn the page on its shameful past, “I never lost faith in Mississippi’s racists.”
“For weeks, we’ve been hearing national pundits say that Mississippi was ready to enter the twenty-first century,” Hyde-Smith told a crowd of supporters at her victory rally. “Tonight, with your help, we proved them wrong.”
Hyde-Smith said that, despite the media’s unearthing of a cavalcade of embarrassing comments and actions from her past, “I never doubted that, at the end of the day, the people of Mississippi would listen to the racist voices in their heads.”
Choking back tears, Hyde-Smith thanked her supporters for honoring Mississippi’s storied heritage of hatred and cruelty.
“Mississippi voters do not want to tear down the relics of our Confederate past,” she said. “As such a relic, I am eternally grateful.”
Exit polls showed that Hyde-Smith performed extremely well with voters who described themselves as bigots, and dominated among those who could not correctly spell “Mississippi.”
What I don’t get is the Black republicans that voted for her. I get tribalism in this day and age, but after her comments?
Where’s the sarcasm?
Reminds me of Wisconsin.
LT:
I was once called in for an audit. As I sat across from the judge who accused me of being a typical American who did not know how good I had it, I got angry. I had nothing to lose. I looked at him and I started off as he was comparing his country to ours and telling me how fortunate we had it in this country.
“You do not know me. When there was a need for a Boy S leader, I was there volunteering my time and teaching them how to splice rope, tie knots, survival in the wild, and what to look for to survive. You were not there when my wife and I volunteered to help at Brownies and Girl Scouts. When Middle School needed a parent to go with the boys in the gym and sleep with them for the weekend. When there was a food drive or clothing drive needed on my side of Madison, who do you think ran it? When it was needed for people to collect food in public places, who do you think stood in the cold to collect it at UW? How dare you accuse me of taking from society. I am an X-Marine Sergeant who served in Asia and Cuba. I gave back and I find your taunts and attacks despicable. You do not know me, my wife, and family.”
His demeanor changed towards me.
The Wisconsin I know was made up of all of those things where we all gave and thrived as a community working with the people around us. Madison was a different place and no where near the level of bigotry and racism of public officials displayed in Mississippi. The South is rife with prejudice and anger.
Quote from Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith:
““The reason we won is because Mississippi knows me, and knows my heart,” said Hyde-Smith just before 10pm in a Jackson, Mississippi, hotel ballroom.”
See: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/27/cindy-hyde-smith-wins-mississippi-senate-seat-in-special-election
If you are a Democrat living in the north, you are never going to understand the politics in southern states.
Hell, I have a difficult time understanding the politics in Kentucky and I have lived here almost all of my life. In the 1960s and 1970s Kentucky was a solidly conservative Democratic state. (Typical of southern states.) Today it is solidly Republican.
It started out as a drift toward the Republican party in elections for national office. Next came the Senate in the General Assembly. Now the Republican party has taken over the House in the General Assembly. And we currently have a Republican Governor.
On the surface it should have been impossible. As Governor Christie NJ pointed out, Kentucky receives $1.53 for every dollar that it sent to Washington.
But it is not that simple. Southeastern Kentucky is poor and for almost a century its young people have left their homes and family to work in the north. Those left behind depended on coal mines for jobs. (And their health suffered for it.)
Most of the rest of Kentuckians have done okay. The wages were never as high as they were in the north but they could raise a family on them. Inflation was probably lower here. I come from a county in western Kentucky which has been sending a lot of their young people across the state and north of the Ohio river. Those young people’s education gave them skills which were in demand in other places and they did not want to work for minimum wage.
There were at least 2 factors involved in the drift toward the Republican party. The first was that beginning in the 1980s manufacturers discovered that Kentucky’s educational system was putting out a good product and Kentuckians made good employees. And as the Democratic party drifted more and more liberal in Kentucky, Kentuckians began to drift away from it.
How is anyone living in a liberal Democratic state supposed to understand that history?
When I say that Kentucky was a conservative Democratic state, I mean socially and fiscally.
Run-I could refer you to so many books and articles about Wisconsin racism it isn’t even funny. Try the October 18,2018 Boston Review article, “Racism and the Wisconsin Idea: The Worst Place to be Black in America”. Ever read “Sundown Towns”? You need to get out of your bubble.
LJ:
I think you need to understand from whence I came. Madison has always been more liberal than the rest of the state. Milwaukee elected socialist mayors. It is possible some Dems are racist; but, it is unlikely. Since 1988 to 2016, the state has voted Dem in presidential elections. Dems made a terrible mistake in Wisconsin the same as Michigan another presidential Dem voting state. Soon enough Repubs who can stand minorities will have fewer places to hide.
JimH,
I doubt I have ever read a history that is more inaccurate and deceptive than your fiction regarding Kentucky politics and the “change”.
“Black people? There ain’t no black people in Kentucky! Well, at least none we pay attention to!”
It reads like the people who apologize for Adolph Rupp’s racism. “hey, he wasn’t a racist, he was just a man of his time.”
Right.
EMichael,
I did not mention race at all. And you have not mentioned anything but race.
From your lofty liberal viewpoint EVERYTHING is about race.
And that is exactly why liberal Democrats can not understand politics in the south.
Thank you for making my point.
Yeah, I cannot understand politics in the South because I refuse to ignore the stone cold fact that politics in the South is, always was, and always will be about racism.
Yeah, the statues were about heritage. And Rupp wasn’t really a racist, just a couple of slips of the tongue:
“Harry, that son of a bitch is ordering me to get some niggers in here. What am I going to do ? He’s the boss.” Harry Lancaster, long-time assistant to Rupp, in his book.
EMichael,
The segregated Kentucky before 1970, was run by Democrats! Democrats dominated Kentucky politics until at least the late 1990s.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_Kentucky
And I remind you that you are quoting a BASKETBALL coach who was born in 1901 in Kansas and died in 1977. The Republican party came to power in Kentucky long after the man’s death.
Northern liberal Democrats seem to be so socially inept that they can not restrain themselves from attacking voters in the south. Especially after their candidate loses an election. Do they all believe that the voters will forget the insults in 2 to 4 years?
When political parties lose elections they should study them carefully and at least try to learn SOMETHING from the experience.
“Despite being one of the poorest states Mississippi has the highest percentage of Black homeowners than any other state at 55.6% compared to the lowest which is Minnesota at 24.3 percent.”
See: http://blackdemographics.com/states/mississippi/
Perhaps that factoid has something to do with the recent election results.
Worst States?
https://www.thetoptens.com/most-racists-states-us/
https://atlantablackstar.com/2014/05/14/top-10-racist-states-america/
https://www.elitedaily.com/social-news/most-racist-states-twitter/1419178
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-most-prejudiced-places-in-america
As far as College Basketball? Loyola University Chicago 1963
By all means it does exist in the North also. Then too Republicans are great on playing whites off on blacks to maintain their social and economic status.
If racism is so much more rampant in the south than in the north then why is the rate of black home ownership so high in the south and so low in the North?
Surely results count for something.
From: https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/ownershipbyrace.html
Black Homeownership rate in 2000
South Carolina———— 60.9
Mississippi—————- 60.7
Alabama——————- 57.6
North Carolina———– 52.5
Louisiana—————– 51.8
Maryland—————— 51.3
Virginia——————– 51.1
Georgia——————– 50.8
Michigan—————— 50.7
Tennessee—————– 50.5
Delaware—————— 50.4
Florida——————– 50.2
Arkansas—————— 50.1
West Virginia————- 49.8
Pennsylvania————- 49.5
Missouri—————— 47.2
Texas———————- 46.4
United States————- 46.3
New Mexico————– 45.8
Indiana——————– 45.2
Colorado——————- 44.7
Arizona——————– 44
Oklahoma—————– 44
Kansas———————43.9
Idaho———————- 42.9
Ohio———————– 42.6
Illinois——————– 42.2
Kentucky—————– 41.4
Wyoming—————– 41.4
New Jersey————— 40.3
Nevada——————– 39.8
Utah———————— 39.6
Nebraska—————— 39.2
California—————— 38.8
District of Columbia—– 38.8
Oregon——————– 37.4
Washington————— 37.4
Iowa———————– 37.1
Connecticut————— 36.5
New Hampshire———- 35.9
Alaska———————- 33.7
Vermont——————- 33.1
Montana——————- 33
Maine———————- 32.6
Wisconsin—————– 32.5
Massachusetts———— 31.6
Minnesota—————– 31.5
New York—————— 29.1
Rhode Island————– 28.2
South Dakota————- 28.1
North Dakota————- 17.8
Hawaii——————— 15.7
Let me make this point as clear as I can.
For working class Americans a huge percentage of their wealth is in the home that they own.
A higher rate of black families in the south are accumulating wealth in their homes than black families in the north and west.
And yet we are told over and over again that it is the southern states that are racist!
Which is more important to black men and women in this country? Home ownership or racist comments made by posters on the internet? (or via tweets)
Let me make this point perfectly clear, Affordability. NYT article. “Racism Is Everywhere, So Why Not Move South?”
“But she realized she could have so much more outside of New York. Instead of buying a $170,000 co-op with an $800-plus maintenance fee, she moved. She now lives in a four-bedroom townhouse that cost $200,000 in a good school district for her young son.
Ms. Owens was also attracted to the large black professional population and Atlanta’s reputation as a ‘black mecca,’ something she believes New York doesn’t have despite its significant black population. ‘A black mecca in my opinion would be a location where you know that wherever you go you can find people that look like you, that have the same experiences, that have the same background,’ she said, adding that you don’t have to actively seek out those people because ‘they’re just in your normal everyday routine.’”
What is more important to people of color is a chance to succeed and not be held back and tweets are an indication of the degree of racism in an area. It has become more pronounced since Trump came to office. The apple never fail far from the tree in his case. White America is emboldened to strike back more openly now then ever before. In the past, they were more subtle in their denunciations.
I used to sit on a Planning Commission for an area within the richest county in Michigan. Getting white folk to allow dense single family housing in a rural area is a struggle with the comment it remains cheap once. Builders do not want it, present residents do not want it, and townships do not want to build the infrastruture to support it. It was fun picking them off.
“The segregated Kentucky before 1970, was run by Democrats! ”
Strange it started in 1970, huh?
Meanwhile, no one thinks racism only exists in the South. Redlining in the North and West clearly had a huge impact in home ownership and surely was racist. Additionally, it can be seen by the voter suppression movements in the Northern and Western states.
The South just has a couple hundred years head start on them.
Run, the statement I remember is:
Two at home, three on the road, four when behind.
EM:
That would be correct. I heard of this when Loyola (alma mater) was making the NCAA run last year. They still have a great center who is a sophomore this year.
Run75441
“What is more important to people of color is a chance to succeed and not be held back and tweets are an indication of the degree of racism in an area. It has become more pronounced since Trump came to office. The apple never fail far from the tree in his case.”
Posts on the internet and tweets are DOMINATED by angry malcontents. Here, there, and everywhere. This website has to stand constant guard against their moving in here.
And I am shocked by this statement.
“White America is emboldened to strike back more openly now then ever before. In the past, they were more subtle in their denunciations.”
You and I are old enough to remember when black men and women were not safe anywhere in the south. They were denied the right to vote, denied the right to any shred of equal treatment, and abused daily. And that abuse was never subtle. And since they could not vote, they could not sit on juries and appeals to the legal system were almost useless.
Today black men and women can register to vote and they are protected by federal and state civil rights laws. Any employer allowing overt racism in the workplace is inviting a lawsuit and the same applies to landlords and other public services.
None of that is to say that there is no longer racism in the US. That would be a foolish claim.
But I don’t know of any way to implement thought control. And the first amendment protects most speech.
Our best hope is that over some number of generations, any overt sign of racism will bring condemnation from all races. We are moving in that direction, thus the malcontents seek the anonymity of the internet and tweets.
But how has it come to pass that the rate of black home ownership is higher through out the south than in the north, if the racism is worse in the south??? I checked this stat for 2015 and it remains true. Results do not lie.
Which is more important to black men and women, racists comments on the internet or the accumulation of some wealth in their homes? Any wealth at all is a measure of security, and we all crave that.
You make a big deal about this homeownership thing, I see no reason for that to mean anything at all.
As they say, real estate is about 3 things, location. location, location.
https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/mapping-black-homeownership-gap
EMichael,
That did it.
You have taken complete leave of your sense!
Really?
You think I ma nonsensical because I think your home ownership thing means nothing? Or nonsensical because I do not believe the changes from the early 60’s are enough?
Alll of your advances(which I do not disagree with), are clearly shown to not be enough. In many areas, but particularly the south.
Good lord, they just elected a racist ah to the Senate in MS. In GA, black voter suppression elected the governor. Goes on and on.
Sorry, it is not good enough.
LOL. Thanks for the links run…that was funny. Well I guess from the cocoon of snow white Madison everyplace looks racist.
LJ:
The whole of Wisconsin in 2000 was 89% White. Madison, Wisconsin was 76% White.
Since 1988 Wisconsin has gone Dem in Presidential Elections. With the advent of Tommy Thompson and Walker the politics have changed and the state gerrymandered to suit the needs of Repubs. The same occurred in Michigan and with a state which goes majority Dem also. Michigan is gerrymandered too. Detroit is treated like a black enclave.
The Koch Bros bought the state with their money and their lies.
You and Jim are wrong. Go away . . .