Let's See How Far We've Come

Leslie Criss is an editor of a newspaper in Tupelo, MS. Here is a letter she rights about a group from Ole Miss writing to the KKK. The link above is the letter to the KKK...it is worth your time to read.

"The Daily Mississippi Editorial Board in an open letter to the KKK"

http://www.thedmonline.com/an_open_letter_to_the_kkk

Last Wednesday as my dentist poked my enamel with a metal instrument, he spoke of the upcoming presidential debate at Ole Miss.

"I sure hope nothing happens to him," he said. "That would set Mississippi back three decades."

My stomach immediately began to hurt.

He didn't even have to put a name to the masculine pronoun. I knew he wasn't talking about John McCain.

He was referring to Barack Obama.

"There are a lot of good ol' boys in the Delta," he continued, as he delivered the delightful news that one tooth might be developing a crack.

With metal in my mouth, I couldn't respond, but if I could have, here's what I'd have said:

"If anything happens to Barack Obama – or anyone else – during Friday's great debate, it will set this state of my birth back more than several decades. And that would be a tragedy and a travesty. And, by the way, there are good ol' boys all over the place – in this state and beyond."

Two weeks ago a friend told me of her father's experience in a barber shop. He'd gone in for a hair cut and overheard three or four men, Caucasians all, laughing and talking about how they wish they could "take care" of Obama themselves.

The knots in my stomach tightened. And then I heard the Ku Klux Klan plans to be an "invisible" presence at the debates.

I love this state. I am proud of the progress we have made through the years, plodding forward – sometimes with small steps.

I love Ole Miss. My father and his three brothers all attended the University. I spent nearly two years there in graduate school.

And though I was only a child in 1962 when James Meredith became the first African-American student at Ole Miss, I have memories of my parents talking about the riots that commenced.

Enlightened, forward-thinking men of every color took blows during those riots as they stood up for what was right. Will Campbell and the Right Rev. Duncan Gray Jr. are two of many heroes from that tumultuous time.

Today, there are new heroes. Like members of The Daily Mississippian Editorial Board at Ole Miss. College students all.

Last Thursday, these young people penned and published in The Daily Mississippian an open letter to the KKK.

When I read it, the knots in my stomach loosened. Replacing them, a powerful pride in the younger generation of Mississippians who are far more enlightened and courageous than many members of my own generation and the one that came before.

I hope visiting journalists will seek out these young journalists. For they deserve more than a mention in a column.

Thanks, kids, for reassuring me the future of our state is in capable, caring and courageous hands.