Where can I start? Well, I guess I will start by mentioning that Mississippi stands out from alot of other states. It is the poorest(or among the poorest) state in the USA. It has one of the highest violent crime rates in the USA. It also has a very dubious history. Mississippi, alot with the rest of the Southeastern USA, has a history rife with racial oppression, slavery, and good old boy ways of doing things. Today, it is among the poorest, possibly THE poorest state in the USA. Corruption happens alot in Mississippi. Good old boy politics seems to be very common in Mississippi. Here is a link to it: http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Mississippi_government_corruption
Mississippi is also the least urbanized in the USA, where less than half of the population lives in urban areas. There is only one city of 100,000 people or higher, which is the capital of Mississippi, Jackson. Mississippi's population isn't that much lower than Iowa's population. Around 2,967,297 versus 3,046,355 for Iowa. Iowa's largest city, Des Moines, has over 190,000 residents with 2 other cities, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, having populations of 100,000 or higher. Also, Iowa has 7 cities with populations between 50,000 and 90,000 people. Mississippi only has 2. Iowa only has 79,058 more residents than Mississippi and yet the differences in population distribution are stark between the two states.
Why is Mississippi like this? Well, I would argue that history has something to do with this. Historically, Mississippi was a slave state. Mississippi had a higher percentage of slaves than it did free persons around the time of the Civil War. 55 percent of Mississippi's population was enslaved. However, most White people in Mississippi DID NOT OWN SLAVES. The average White Mississippian didn't own slaves. Out of a population of roughly 791,000, there were about 31,000 slaves owners. Out of that, only about 5,000 slave owners owned more than 20 slaves. Only about 317 slave owners had about 100 slaves. If you do the math, this means roughly 317 people owned 31,700 people. It must also be noted that 436,000 persons out of the 791,000 residents were slaves. If you were to divide this by the 31,000 slave owners, this would be about 14 slaves to every slave owner. 31,000 people owning 436,000 people. 5,000 of those slave owners owning at least 20 slaves. Out of those 5,000, 317 having at least 100 slaves. 5,000 people effectively controlled the state of Mississippi because money meant power. Wealth meant power. Slaves were considered property, therefore, 5,000 people had the majority of the "wealth". They effectively controlled Mississippi.
History part 2. With 5,000 people controlling the state of Mississippi, you had a serious wealth imbalance. It is also appropriate to note that it is around this time when many wealthy Mississippians felt threatened. Many felt that with the election of Abraham Lincoln, slavery would be ended. Many elite people stood up and admitted that the reason they wanted to secede from the Union was to maintain and expand slavery. Nowadays there are some people who say "states rights". Yes, the right of a state to maintain slavery. When you think about this, why? It wasn't about human rights. It was about the MONEY. It is like is says in the Bible. The love of money is the root of all evil. 1st Timothy verses 6-10. These slave owners cared about money not people. It was about the money. It is safe to say that the South lost the Civil War and slavery was eventually ended.
However, there is something interesting to note. Mississippi had a dynamic not unlike that of a banana republic. What is a banana republic? A banana republic is nation that is politically unstable with heavy dependence on limited agriculture, and ruled by a small group of elites. Though not as politically unstable as many places that are referred to as "banana republics", Mississippi has some elements not unlike it. It has been traditionally controlled by the few and the elite. Corruption has been known to occur in Mississippi. Political instability, however, has been known to occur in Mississippi. During the late 1700's, Spain and Britain were trying to take control of Mississippi. You had instability during the Civil Rights era as African-Americans were fighting for their civil rights in Mississippi. This doesn't compare to what has happened in places like Guatemala, but it does leave much to think about. Though not quite a banana republic, Mississippi is historically known for having elements of "banana republic".
I would argue that Mississippi is the way it is now because, historically, it has had elements similar to being a banana republic. Many of these habits have carried into today. Mississippi is not very urbanized because of its settlement patterns. Before, the majority of its population lived along the river bottoms in western Mississippi. Vast majority of the economy was based on agriculture, mainly cotton. After the Civil War, more people settled the frontier lands in Mississippi's forests, many cutting town trees for timber, and clearing land for agricultural use. The Gulf Coast of Mississippi was known for mainly fishing and vacationing until World War II when shipbuilding started taking place there. The Dixie Mafia has been known to run strong down there. There was literally not much in the way of industry for most of its history, having been dominated by a plantation economy, with little room for industrialization. Mississippi hasn't provided the as many opportunities for industrial work as other residents. It is of no surprise that Chicago's African-American population is descedended from migrants who came from Mississippi. There was little work to be found. If you wanted to do more, you had to leave. African-Americans were escaping the lack of opportunities and the Jim Crow version of racism in Mississippi. In Mississippi, voting was nearly impossible for an African-American. Though African-Americans made up a majority of the population for the first half of the 20th century, most African-Americans couldn't vote. You had the grandfather clause, which basically said, if your grandfather voted, so could you. The vast majority of African-Americans were descended from slaves, who could not vote. This excluded African-Americans from voting. Other restrictions included literacy tests, which could be given in any language. Other tactics included a poll tax. I would say this kind of racism was passed down from the days of the plantation economy, where the few dominated the many, with complete power. The thought process was that is racism. Under the slave system, slave owners and slavery sympathizers viewed African-Americans as inferior to Whites. This kind of feeling persisted well after slavery ended. Reconstruction came and African-Americans were able to vote, for a short time. This was only because the South was controlled by the military. One person told me that in a way it signed the death warrant for African-Americans, arguing that the slave owners were upset that their slaves were let free and that many people would take their anger out on African-Americans. I have a different perspective. Different topic for a different post. Lets focus on this topic. After Reconstruction ended in 1876, the Southern states, including Mississippi, were left to do what they wanted. African-Americans were reduced to the status of second-class citizenship, and in many cases, being treated as bad as animals. Many people felt that by taking the rights of African-Americans away, it was "restoring the natural order of things with the White man on top and the Black man on the bottom". That is how alot of people felt. This kind of racism came from the days of slavery and manifested itself after the end of slavery in other ways, such as Jim Crow laws. Mississippi has a traditionalistic political culture where the government has a paternalistic, custodial role, which is meant to keep the current order of things, where change is very slow to come. Participation in civic affairs is not expected. Explains why corruption has been a problem in Mississippi. Mississippi is the 3RD MOST CORRUPT state in the USA. It ranks #5 uin public corruption. Louisiana, strangely enough, with its well-known record of corruption, is the 19th most corrupt state in the USA. It is important to note that it ranks #4 in public corruption while having much lower levels of racketeering, fraud, counterfeit, and embezzlement. Mississippi ranks #3 in embezzlement, 17th most corrupt in racketeering and extortion, 16th with forgery and counterfeit, and 22nd in fraud. Louisiana is outranked by Mississippi in every category of corruption EXCEPT PUBLIC CORRUPTION. Other than that, I can understand how Mississippi is so corrupt. Plantation politics, not unlike that of a banana republic. Could Mississippi be the American banana republic? You decide for yourself.
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