Racism in Mississippi: an outside view

two reasons that "evolving more slowly" assumption is correct:
one
a large uneducated portion of people, statewide.
Both blacks and whites choose against higher education, not seeing a need for it as gauged by what they see on television from "educated individuals".
One does not need a higher education to be accepted on American Idol or Dancing with the Stars. or for that matter, another national favorite: America's Funniest Home Videos.
Nationally acclaimed television programs have produced alternative lifestyles to a plethera of people..... why spend money on education when you can steal a perfectly good camcorder to submit videos or practice your crazy wierd dance steps while hoping of "making it Big" on tv...like the rest of America.
Screw education...give me entertainment.

Second
Welfare. Why work -when the government will feed someone like a pig at a trough. One does not need a diploma or a degree to apply for welfare. One can "earn" a decent living by collecting a welfare check every month without the hassle of an education.

Consider this in your view of Mississippi and the south in general....
Heat, profound heat, dibilitating humidity laden heat makes people lazy. The south is perceived as lazy because of its heat/humidity intense environment. Hence the image of porches and bodies strewn across them in the middle of the day.Summers in the south last for 7-8 months out of the year.

the further north you travel in your rand mcnally, the more you see people energized by climate. A cool spring day will drive a person to be active.

Population drives prejudice further. Before the civil war was ever ended,'African' Americans preferred warmer climates and generally still do. Rural Mississippi, where sharecroppers flourished became a mecca for warm weather driven cultures.

So, lack of higher education, generations of welfare/ taxpayer supported dependents and a population explosion of warm weather inhabitants have made Mississippi more of what you view as "Slow to deal with racism".

As always, there is nothing you can do about the weather.
We can promote better television. We can even promote LESS welfare benefits to the uneducated. For that matter we can produce my incentives for young people to want to educate themselves to something other than dance moves.

Perhaps as Global Warming takes over the entire planet, you will be able to understand this issue more empathetically.

remember the bigoted prinicipal wont allow the girl with tux in the yearbook. It is in Mississippi...

Mediafreak:

Go to Mississippi. You may feel differently. The race issue in Mississippi is very difficult to grasp as an outsider. I'm from Texas, but visit Jackson multiple times a year to see family. There's a complicated history there that goes far beyond welfare and the weather :)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett gives some insight on the issue.