Comments | sleepinthewoods: Let a People Loving Freedom Come to Growth

sleepinthewoods

Let a People Loving Freedom Come to Growth

Apr 08, 2007 00:16

Many of the volunteers asked at Turkey Creek asked me (as one of the only Mississippian volunteers around) questions about Mississippi's social and political history. I've been working on a flyer to be given out to the short-term volunteers that would help provide this history.. This is side 1. (Revised on 4/11)

Orientation to Gulfport, ( Read more... )

Comments 5

monslucis April 7 2007, 19:43:04 UTC

"The Black Panthers were also active in the state (in fact, the phrase “Black Power” was first used in the Mississippi Delta), running free breakfast and lunch programs for school children, and agitating for militant resistance to racism and oppression.[7]"

Robert Williams first used "Black Power" as a political phrase in writing, Stokely Carmichael first used it, or at least first popularized it, as a slogan in public speech.

The Black Panthers were not active in MS. The Robert Williams-inspired Deacons for Defense and Justice--who predated the Black Panther Party--were active in the south, and as far as I know, they were solely an armed self-defense group, not running breakfast programs or agitation, which the BPP did do. There was also the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, whose symbol was the black panther, but they were just one county in AL, not MS.
(The Deacons defended with arms the continuation of the March Against Fear, which nonviolent MLK attended and during which Carmichael gave his "Black Power" speech.)Reply

sleepinthewoods April 7 2007, 21:23:08 UTC

crap, i got some bad information. or maybe i just made it up. thanks for the info! happy to see monslucis on my lj page again.

sleepinthewoods April 10 2007, 21:30:18 UTC

hey will you look at my revisions before i get it printed?

monslucis April 11 2007, 00:22:13 UTC

"The millitant Deacons for Defense and Justice group was also active in Mississippi, patroling black neighborhoods and defending civil rights marches throughout the south"
The link you give points out something I didn't even know: that the Deacons only had chapters in LA (meaning they likely only patrolled neighborhoods there, not in MS), but they did defend meetings and marches in MS.

The Flag vote was not due to low turnout... anonymous April 9 2007, 15:34:45 UTC

Good or bad, it was due to a conservative citizenry not wanting to change its flag. The turnout may seem low compared to federal elections, but it is right on par with turnout for previous statewide elections.

The Numbers:
2003 General Election* 804,487 Total Votes
"Flag Vote" 767,682 (65%-35% for 1890 Flag)
1999 General Election 754,818

The 2003 General Election was the largest in state history. The 1999 GE was average. As you can see, the turnout was actually larger for the "Flag Vote" than for the preceeding election which chose Governor, Lt. Gov., etc.. Also of note, progressives fared better in the 1999 election than in the 2003 election. Thus, one would surmise that smaller turnouts would actually favor progressives...the opposite of your assertion.