From Psychelic Literature's C. Leigh McInnis:

                       Hey Y'all

 

I can begin by reminding y’all that 70 million people voted for President Agent Orange and that the election of Cindy Hyde-Smith over Mike Espy proves that the vast majority of white Mississippians would have never voted to “retire” the Confederate Flag as they resoundingly voted for Hyde-Smith who was one of the loudest critics of changing the state flag.  Moreover, as it pertains to the national election, I never understood the logic of thinking that it would be a “liberal landslide.” Maybe that was wishful thinking, but I simply consider it delusion. Or, maybe, I’ve merely accepted Mississippi and America for what they are. That does not change the things that I like about either, but it enables me to engage and strategize empirically rather than emotionally.  Are all the white people in Mississippi and America racist? No. But, it seems that at least fifty-five percent are racist or are comfortable aligning themselves with racists. Yet, the same is true of people of color. Whether it is the model minorities (Asians and now some who identify as Latinos and Hispanics) who see African Americans as responsible for their own negative plight or whether it is some African Americans who have decided to roll with the oppressor in hopes of receiving scraps from the table, it is time for African Americans who do not define themselves in these ways to accept that they are the only people who can save themselves and begin the real work to do so.  Doing anything less than this is tantamount to begging one’s oppressor to be nice to them.

 And, this is where the plot is twisted by the magnificent work of Stacey Abrams who, interestingly, is an award-winning author of several romantic suspense novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery. Abrams’ work as a Georgia Representative, her 2019 gubernatorial campaign, and her founding Fair Fight Action is the reason that Georgia just voted for a Democrat presidential candidate since 1992. Yes, one can argue that Atlanta and its surrounding areas are booming with black folks and other minorities.  But, the sad truth is that the majority of black folks don’t vote as they should for various reasons. However, Abrams was able to develop an infrastructure to inspire and mobilize black folks, which is why President-Elect Joe Biden was clear in acknowledging that black folks “showed up” at the polls for him. The history of America is the history of black folks like Abrams who believe in the beauty, intellect, and power of black folks enough to force this country to overcome its hypocrisy and achieve its fantasy ideals about itself as a democracy rooted in the land of the free and the home of the brave. As such, Abrams’ work must be a lesson to African Americans from one end of this country to the other.  Do African Americans continue to cry and beg white folks to see, hear, and help them? Or, do African Americans recognize the resources and power that they have and do for themselves? To be clear, Attorney and former State Representative Abrams is not a Black Nationalist as I am. Yet, her work proves that one does not have to be a Black Nationalist to understand and work for black folks becoming self-determining.  I don’t care how black folks get there. I just want us to get there.  And, in the true fashion of Mavis Staples and the great Staples Singers song, “I’ll Take You There,” it was a black woman leading the country on a spiritual journey to redeem its soul. I don’t think that it is an overstatement to proclaim Abrams a political Harriet Tubman, leading black Southerners on a path to freedom. Abrams got the South so shook that Mississippi Governor “Tater Tot” Reeves tweeted that “I will do everything in my power to make sure universal mail-in voting and no-excuse early voting are not allowed in Mississippi - not while I’m governor. Too much chaos.”  Talk about the plantation owner being worried about what the slaves are doing on his neighbor’s plantation. Reeves and the other Southern governors are worried that their black folks might become inspired by the work of Abrams and finally get organized enough to poke more holes in the Red Southern Wall. And while Mississippi’s black population is still not large enough to elect someone to a statewide office on its own, Abrams’ work shows that there are many more battles that they can win if they simply recognize and utilize their own resources.  Mississippi has long had more black elected officials than most other states. But, Mississippi has lacked the type of consistent black leadership that could inspire and lead black folks to control their day and destiny.  Afro-Mississippians constitute thirty-nine percent of the State, which makes it the largest percent of African Americans of any state in the country. While we can complain that white Mississippians are fifty-nine percent of the state and that ninety-five percent of them vote as a solid white block, the truth is that Afro-Mississippians don’t vote their numbers and don’t believe in themselves enough to create a unity that enables them to control their day and destiny. Thus, I’m hoping that Abrams’ work inspires Afro-Mississippians in the same manner that it has scared and infuriated Governor Tater Tot and his Confederate Army.  So, how black folks get to a place where their day and destiny are in their hands is not the issue for me.  That we do this and that more of us follow the lead of Abrams is most important to me.  Other than that, a lot of folks must do some soul searching to decide what is the best way forward for themselves, their immediate community, and the country. To recap, ninety-five percent of white Mississippians voted for a woman who admitted that she would attend a public lynching, and close to fifty percent of Americans voted for Trump; yet, a black woman raised in Gulfport, Mississippi, who relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, when her parents pursued graduate degrees, became the bulldozer to blast a hole in the Southern Red Wall, and that says what?