Jackson Free Press

Clarion-Ledger executive editor Ronnie Agnew penned another of those breathtaking columns Sunday about why Mayor Harvey Johnson sucks. OK, he didn't use those words exactly: "So far, there is one key person still not on board about the existence of the magnitude of the problem, and until he realizes the need for change, progress will be difficult to accomplish. That person is Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr."

This is how he started [insert soap-opera music here]: "The letters and e-mails have been coming in from around the country, many expressing passion for a city that is slowly slipping away from the people who care most about it."

Slowly slipping away? Eh? It seems more accurate to say that people who supposedly care about the city have slowly slipped away, doesn't it?

Then this zinger: "That's where we have a problem. If ‘The Changing Face of Jackson' is to have any lasting impact, it must be done with the complete cooperation of Johnson." Does anyone know what this sentence means? Is the paper planning to ask the mayor to edit a future section of the paper? I'm confused.

This, though, was my favorite: "Home is no longer where the heart is, but where significant signs of a decaying urban core continue to eat away at memories of Jackson's stellar past."

The question I've started to ask of Jacksonians is: Exactly when was "Jackson's stellar past"? What years? Or, the "glory years" as was said in a previous installment of "Changing Faces." This is a serious question. When exactly were the glory years? Specifically. What exact years in Jackson's history should we be emulating during this descent to the past? No one has given me a specific year, yet, but I'm still hoping. I think this would open up some very interesting discussion that "Changing Faces" never got around to.

By the way, Mr. Agnew said one thing I agree with: "Someone's in denial." Indeed.

Read the "Changing Faces" series here.

Previous Comments

ID

168219

Comment

By the Glory Days, I think he's referring to a time when people wanted to move to Jackson, not out of Jackson.

Author

Oz Collins

Date

2003-11-18T17:24:04-06:00

ID

168220

Comment

Oz, please be more specific than that -- when do you mean? Or at least name a decade. The 40s? 50s? 60s? 70s? 80s? 90s? When were the glory years that a lot of folks so loudly hanker for these days? And when we pinpoint that "stellar past," then let's go back and examine that time for what made it so glorious for Jackson's residents. I'm serious; I think this would be a vital exercise in examining our so-called "Changing Face." Please help me.

Author

ladd

Date

2003-11-18T17:36:15-06:00

ID

168221

Comment

I had always wanted to move to Jackson from the country/'burbs since I was a child (call it mid 70s). Ironically, I can remember many people of the time were fleeing (from the mid 70s to late 90s) and one of the common reasons for moving was racial. I can not tell you how many times I heard elders claiming "the blacks are taking over." That being said, I'm more curious if the "glory days" were really the days when Jackson had a majority or white residents rather than the 30% that exists today....

Author

Knol Aust

Date

2003-11-18T18:22:58-06:00

ID

168222

Comment

Jackson has never had a "glory days" time. MS has never had a glory days time. Glory has yet to be realized for MS.

Author

Nia

Date

2003-11-18T18:23:22-06:00

ID

168223

Comment

Heck, folks, the Glory Days are now. Isn't a classic definition of 'conservative' defining what is good as something that happened in the past, and idealized history that we need to go back too? I agree with Nia on this one. Glory has yet to be realized.

Author

Kate

Date

2003-11-18T18:37:51-06:00

ID

168224

Comment

Yes, Kate, it is. But let's keep an open mind: maybe Agnew & Co. know something we don't that justifies why they prefer the city to go backward rather than forward. So let's start asking this question widely around the city: Exactly when were Jackson's glory years? What made them glorious? Were they glorious for all city residents? I'm not being flip (OK, not very), but this is the one major question the C-L's big-ass series raised for me. (Other than: why did this take so long?)

Author

ladd

Date

2003-11-18T18:50:03-06:00

ID

168225

Comment

I asked three people last night the very question about the "Glory Days" and no one could answer with a specific time/date. 2/3s actually said, "Glory days? When did Jackson have glory days?" They did however suggest maybe it was when Farish was functional.... But then again, that was more of an assumption since they aren't old enough to remember those days. We did unamimously agree that "now" might be the beginning of those glory days if the contagious motivation to make the city a better place continues.

Author

Knol Aust

Date

2003-11-19T11:32:25-06:00

ID

168226

Comment

Yes, I've been asking the question, too, and usually people laugh in response because they believe the assumption is ridiculous. (Now, which logical fallacy is the argument that we should return to something that never existed? ) Remember, Farish Street's "glory" was predicated on the fact that blacks couldn't shop or patronize anywhere in the white community. I guess that takes me to my ulimate question: Has the city experienced any "glory days" or "stellar" times when the entire community could equally participate -- and that includes moving into good neighborhoods (without people fleeing from them), attending integrated public schools, and so on? Maybe it has; let's keep asking questions. Meantime, though, I'd ask people to consider whether the so-called "glory days" of the past were something to be re-created? Or, do indeed the glory days lie in the future, as we all work together positively to effect change and progress? And it's probably not a bad time to remind folks that crime has been lower in Jackson only two years of the last 20 than it is now. Does that mean crime is cool? Of course friggin' not. But I guarantee you one thing: whining never stopped a crime or caught a criminal.

Author

ladd

Date

2003-11-19T12:33:26-06:00

ID

168227

Comment

I found the Glory Days! Read about them in a letter to the C-L today: "I attended many football games in Jackson when Veterans Memorial Stadium was new. It was beautiful, with many tailgate parties, great crowds; a good time was had by all. After a while, thugs took over. If we came to the game, we would need to stay in our motorhomes to protect them. I would like very much to see Jackson restored. This will never happen as long as the electorate sends racists to leadership positions in city government." http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0311/19/l06.html Definitely go read the whole letter ... (I think the moral is that you can't be accused of being a racist if you accuse the people accusing you of being a racist louder and more often than they accuse you of being a racist. Or something. )

Author

ladd

Date

2003-11-19T14:37:52-06:00

ID

168228

Comment

This is starting to sound like the creative class blog from a month or so ago http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=1838_0_7_0_C

Author

Philip

Date

2003-11-20T09:19:43-06:00

ID

168229

Comment

I've still been polling (unscientifically) about the Glory Years/Days of Jackson. Last night, I asked a (white) man who grew up in Jackson, attended public school here, and lived here all his life except for college. He kind of smiled and say, "well, the glory days are in the mind of the beholder," or something to that effect. He pointed out that as soon as the schools were forced to integrate in 1970 and busing started, whites started fleeing, and the city started "decaying," as Agnew puts it. He points out that the city has seen much worse crime days. And he very frankly said that many whites want to return to a time, paradoxically considering that they're the ones who fled, when blacks didn't live in their city neighborhoods or attend their public schools. Perhaps those were the "glory years"? Beholder, indeed. That's one Jacksonian's views. But I welcome others; if the city really did have a time when its residents lived well together in a healthy urban setting, with good integrated schools and low crime, and thriving local businesses, we should pinpoint it, and figure out how to emulate it.

Author

ladd

Date

2003-11-20T16:07:53-06:00

ID

168230

Comment

Once the "glory years" era has been determined, it would be wise to investigate why they "decayed." Once that's established, you'd then need to determine how to keep history from repeating itself... There's no simple way to go about it. Seems like it'd be easier to try to clean up what exists than to keep wishing for some dreamy days-gone-by.

Author

Knol Aust

Date

2003-11-20T16:18:06-06:00

ID

168231

Comment

How 'bout them apples? The Clarion-Ledger finally got around to running a story about dropping crime in the city on its front page, as we suggested several weeks ago. It would seem to be "news," right? http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0311/20/m04.html The story itself quickly devolved into a typical he-said-she-said C-L piece, and had a headline sure to get the perception-gate junkies roiled: "Moore: Perception of crime is worse than reality." (Tricky, C-L.) But, what should be noticed, is that the chief is right about that. When I saw the story, I said to Todd, "I betcha Rick Whitlow is whining in the jump." (The part of the story continued inside.). Sure enough: "Rick Whitlow, director of community affairs for the Metro Crime Commission-Safe City Watch, said Moore is out of touch with Jackson residents. 'That 'p' word ó perception ó comes down to a quality of life issue,' Whitlow said. 'For someone who was robbed, their perception is their reality. It comes down to whether there is a perception of safety in the city,' he said. 'We don't have that here. We've not had that here.' " I suspect that Mr. Whitlow, hired to tell the media and other Jacksonians how unsafe we are on a regular basis, sees no irony in his statement. Whatever. Good for the C-L for gulping and starting this story on the front page. One little "civic" suggestion, though: Perhaps when they talk about neighborhoods being hit with "violent home invasions and robberies," they could provide a little context and mention whether or not those were a bunch of different criminals, or give a sense of how many of them have been apprehended. Strikes me as info city residents might be interested in, even if they could give a damn about it up in Tupelo. Stats showing recent yearly crime totals: http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0311/20/m04a.html

Author

ladd

Date

2003-11-20T16:25:28-06:00

ID

168232

Comment

Good points, Knol. Keep an eye out our direction on this.

Author

ladd

Date

2003-11-20T16:26:36-06:00

ID

168233

Comment

Donna: ...if the city really did have a time when its residents lived well together in a healthy urban setting, with good integrated schools and low crime, and thriving local businesses, we should pinpoint it, and figure out how to emulate it. Philip: It may not be The City, but as I said concerning a pervious story, Pearl and Ridgeland may be where you will find reasonably well integrated public schools, and (I'd think, but not entirely sure) a budding Black middle class too. Clinton appears to be have all this too, plus it's one of the better school systems in the metro. However, I emphasize the former two because they are geographically sandwiched between the "white" and "black" parts of the metro. Understand I'm not saying we should abandon Jackson - just that these inner tier suburban areas can offer clues as to what can work for Jackson proper.

Author

Philip

Date

2003-11-20T20:59:26-06:00

ID

168234

Comment

I wish it was that simple, Philip, but I don't think that Pearl and Ridgeland are ripe for emulation, either, although I welcome other folks' views on the topic. Pearl, particularly, seems to be facing some serious challenges.

Author

ladd

Date

2003-11-22T10:27:33-06:00

ID

168235

Comment

What are those challenges?

Author

Nia

Date

2003-11-22T11:24:37-06:00

ID

168236

Comment

Donna, I understand your point - that those suburbs are not racial paradises either. But my point was that since the schools are more integrated, there is a somewhat better chance for true harmony taking root on a mass scale. Of course this assumes people aren't that cliquish (HA!!). Like several people said on other boards, it's a matter of people being adventurous enough to get outside their own little clique (cliquishness is by no means restricted to race and income -- I've noticed its also prevalent in lifestyle/activity interest too).

Author

Philip

Date

2003-11-22T11:33:21-06:00