Responding to rural whites, in the context of Mississippi politics

Cindy Hyde-Smith is running against Mike Epsy for a seat in the United States Senate for the conservative state of Mississippi where a democrat has not held office for more than 35 years. At a recent campaign rally, Hyde-Smith ran into a significant backlash for a controversial comment made on camera. The Republican appointee to the Senate in a runoff election set for today, said that she would be in the front row if a supporter invited her to a public hanging.

This morning, the Los Angeles Times ran an article by Jenny Jarvie regarding candidate Hyde-Smith and her words regarding a public hanging. Many critics jumped on this comment and accused her of being unsympathetic to the dark history of slavery. They labeled her as too extreme to represent the people of the state of Mississippi. Ms. Jarvie's posits that voters may not feel the same way, illustrated by the title "Voters may ignore 'hanging' remark." Jarvie suggests that Mississippians may not all feel the same way as many journalists who are commenting from other parts of the country. In Ms. Jarvie's analysis, she quotes several conservatives from the state of Mississippi:

I think she is a good person, said Joe Vaught, a 70-year-old retired nurse from Brandon, a town 15 miles east of Jackson, the capital. We all make stupid mistakes.

The Democrats are just trying to slander her, said Kim Bolding, 51, a marketing officer for a faith-based rehabilitation center who lives in Flowood.

It’s being blown out of proportion, said Robert Norwood, 68, a retired accounting manager from Crystal Springs. I watch a lot of cowboy shows. They used to hang a lot of people. Why does everything have to be about race?

Mississippi has a long history of hanging that began in the 1700's and remained the state's procedure of capital punishment until the 1940's. The backlash stems from those in and outside the state who say that hanging goes beyond capital punishment in the history of Mississippi. Charlene Thompson, a director at the Smith Robertson Museum, says in an interview, that hangings and lynching or lynch mobs went beyond the scope of law in the history of Mississippi:

We also have to remember that in many of these public lynchings, people would dress up. Not necessarily the person who is being lynched, but the crowd itself, and they would sell refreshments. It was like a big outing.

The NAACP reports that from 1882-1968 Mississippi conducted 581 lynchings, the highest number of any state. Similar figures of hanging data can be found here and here. It would seem the residents of Mississippi who are not white and are not the age of 50 (as are the conservative commenters above) have good reason to be outraged. Candidate Hyde-Smith did not even submit in haste an apology for her comments, but rather dropped off of her campaign trail for a few weeks in silence. She than made a short apology and went on the offensive last week when she said:

For anyone that was offended by my comments, I certainly apologize, she said, reading from a script. There was no ill will, no intent whatsoever, in my statements.

This comment was twisted, was turned into a weapon to be used against me, a political weapon used for nothing but personal and political gain by my opponent, she said. That’s the type of politics that Mississippians are sick and tired of.

Her opponent, Mike Epsy, an African American Democrat, politely responded to her statement:

Well, no one twisted your comments because your comments were live, he said. You know, they came out of your mouth.

Ms. Jarvie rounds out her article with the notion that regardless of the mistakes Hyde-Smith has made on the campaign trail (see her comments about possibly suppressing liberal educated voters here) she will likely win the Senate seat. The state is still largely conservative, and voters tend to stick with their political party affiliation, regardless of the policies the candidate advocates. There may also be other factors influencing voters in Mississippi, like resident and independent voter Joe Vaught. Mrs. Vaught said she did not approve of Hyde-Smith's remarks but would still vote for her because of the importance of having a woman representative in the Senate.

The public needs to hold those holding high office accountable for their words and actions. Hyde-Smith saying "I apologize to anyone offended", after refusing to apologize for weeks is a slap in the face to many scarred by this state's past. Hyde-Smith's apology is not one that takes any responsibility for the words spoken or connotations there of. It is dismissive in nature. This means that if you are offended, you are the problem. It was not a big deal, and you should not be offended so easily. Those elected into office should be held accountable for their actions, and the public who they represent should hold them to the highest standard of civility.

Furthermore, her campaign staff has repeatedly reported to media that her statement was "a joke" and has been blown out of proportion.  The fact that our President rushed down to Mississippi on Monday to hold two rally's in defense of Hyde-Smith and her comments is a mark against the United States in common decency and understanding of all our citizens. More than 100 Republican operatives and field staff flocked to the state for this final stretch. Why is the Republican party not ready to denounce racial slurs and racially suggestive actions? Is maintaining the highest level of power really that much more important to our politicians than dignity and integrity of all African Americans? It is time as a nation of smart, descent citizens to condemn politics that lack all civility and respectability. Regardless of the outcome of this election, the citizens of every state must demand more from those who represent us, or if we don't, all civility may be lost before we have a chance to save ourselves from a deep and dark future of racial divides and class wars.

(Don't miss a related blog post here!)