re: Ole Miss fans and wealth?

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Miles is a cool guy.

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A great guy. Everyone knows Miles.

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Jackson, MS is the worst city in America

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Well, at least Jackson hasn't mismanaged its school system that it had to be taken over by the state... like... oh, I don't know... Jefferson County (aka, Birmingham)

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The state of Mississippi heavily subsidized people to stay in places along the delta instead of letting nature dictate the population curve. In the book "Rising Tide", John Berry documents all this in detail as well as showing how the decisions of a few people 100 years ago led to the delta being in the shape it's in today. Instead of allowing the poorer population to move north like every other state did we pulled off schemes* to keep all the laborers here, in places like Greenville and Clarksdale, to make sure a few people's vision of some new south eutopia came to be.

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True. But it wasn't so much to create the vision of a new south utopia. It was to keep the cheap labor that for 100 yrs. prior that was basically owned and controlled.

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This is a touchy subject and I intend no offense to anyone on here just stating facts I know, I lived and grew up in the Delta and know how it works and the history.

But fact is, we kept the former slaves around and used them as sharecroppers. Generation after generation of black families worked under generation after generation of white plantation owners, for very, very low pay and cotton prices were sky high. the owners sat in their 10,000 square foot antebellum homes while the labors did all the hard work.

Then comes along Civil Rights era, integration, etc. This period hurt the delta more than any. This is why the violence was so bad during that time, the white people were scared to lose the way of living they were accustomed to.

Factories were shut down, people moved away. Private schools were created to keep the blacks and whites separate from each other.

Then comes along Welfare and Gov't assistance. The former labor force that was used takes advantage of this, and the farmers lose their cheap labor. So now you're left with the loyal workers who stuck around and are making 8 dollars an hour, or illegal mexicans getting paid under the table. There are also factors such as technology that requires less farm workers so you end up with an ever higher unemployment rate and more poor people. On top of Cotton prices fell drastically. In the past decade farmers have adapted to corn and soybeans, and are becoming very profitable.

The disparity is very vast in the Delta.. it's millionaire farmers/ middle class farm managers and poor minorities. With the minorities being 70% of the population.

Also in the 70's came along the Catfish industry, which brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to each delta county. Recent competition from imports and the economy have downsized this industry so it's economic impact is much smaller.

These are all reasons the Delta today is a drain on the economy of the state, and contains nothing more than wealthy farmers. The Delta has a unique combination of culture and history. But some parts of that history are very, very ugly. I could really talk on this all night

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you gonna let Slope break it in for you?

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Heavens no. He wouldn't send me his Homeland Security info. I don't doubt his eidetic memory ability but I think he mentioned setting up cameras and stuff with girls and that's a bit weird.... and illegal in Mississippi and most states, countries, provinces, continents, and universes.

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I figured it was Colby

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This would be my guess.

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Well, at least Jackson hasn't mismanaged its school system that it had to be taken over by the state... like... oh, I don't know... Jefferson County

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The public school system in MS is the most corrupt and mismanaged in the country. We have like 138 districts and pay a supervisor for each one damn near 80K a year.

Know how many districts Texas has? 2. with 2 supervisors. That ought to tell ya something

A lot of the larger AA and AAA private schools have a very good education. I don't know about the comparison to TN but they are much better than the MS public schools for sure.

That was mostly directed at OMlandshark. Our private schools are better academically because we can attract better teachers and have a lot more money. I'm not saying you can't get a decent education, but there's nothing in Mississippi on par with MBA, St. Marys, Harpeth Hall, FRA, CBHS, MUS, and BGA.

Mississippi is like eastern Arkansas and if think some of the farmers and farming communities in those areas are poor, then you are out of your mind. I know several millionaire farmers whether it be from oil and mineral rights or the actual price of food commodities. Those fellas know how to make that cabbage.

Public systems? Yes.

Private? No.