Jackson Free Press

Yesterday I watched "Prom Night in Mississippi" (for the second time) with the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Club, along with some other very unique and cool people. It was pretty insightful, but when I left the meeting, I had a really huge headache. There were so many thoughts flying around in my mind that it seemed congested.

I got a chance to meet some new and inspiring people, and see friends that I've had for a while as we discussed race relations in Jackson. I already had my own ideas, but I was introduced to new thoughts like "racism among the youth" and "white guilt." I've never stopped to think about racism in that way.

Usually, when racism comes to my mind, it is a subject more 2-dimensional: black and white. The truth of the matter is that it affects so many things and so many people in so many ways. It is very complex, so much that it is hard to put into words.

One thing further to note is the look of racism towards those who insist that they are outside of its reach and outside of the conversation. When listening to people talk about racism, the issue may sound ignorant from those who are unable to articulate their emotions; I feel that this has hindered the image of Mississippi. It feeds into us [Mississippians] seeming "slow" and "country" when really the problem is deeply embedded in our psyche.

The conversation we had at a beautiful church in downtown Jackson was very good; someone there said, "We (Mississippians) are ahead of many people in the world because racism is everywhere, yet we actually have a chance to come and talk about it because of the status of our image."

What about the small rural towns in Ohio or the majority Hispanic schools in L.A. who have no need to address discrimination because there is no public media outcry for it? Segregation is everywhere but my major question is how do we move on and what does moving on mean? Psychology says that people tend to hang out with people like them… is that simply the answer as to why segregation exist in social environments? Should we overcome this mode of thought, and what would be the consequence? Would we lose our rich heritage that is unique to specific groups of people?

In my opinion one should take pride in who he or she is, race and heritage included. But see to it that he or she doesn't negate, diminish, or tarnish his/her personal view of other races. We must learn to accept race, staring it right in the eye, but also looking past it. We should learn to see the individual spirit and personality each person possesses.

Tolerance is a limited, quick answer, but doesn't address the entire situation. At the end of the day, our process of trying to reach new levels of conversation are the true product that we need. This is something else I learned: sometimes process is progress. We work to communicate, not fully understanding what will lie at our conquest's end. As an artist though, I feel as if I must help capture and transform each moment of this progression so that the truths of each moment are not lost.