Wishin' and Hopin' America Avoids Another 1960's Reckoning

With apologies to Dusty Springfield (1939-1999), I was "wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'" that America could escape a repeat of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, but now I'm not so sure. There's too much turmoil in the air and in the streets, too many people hurling insults and sprays and explosives at someone else, and too many government agents going on patrol and hitting people with clubs and rifle butts. Inevitably, deaths have resulted amid the restlessness.

Mississippi's main Jewish Synagogue, Beth Israel in Jackson, was recently firebombed for a second time in its 116-year history, leaving total ruins. A 19-year-old man, who called the structure a "synagogue of Satan," has been charged with the crime.

The mayhem conducted across America in recent months has occurred for questionable reasons. Regular citizens minding their own business are experiencing the effrontery of authorities walking up and saying, "Your papers, please," a trope employed by Nazi Germany to identify Jewish people from the rest of the population in the 1930's and 1940's. We aren't accustomed to hearing that question posed to citizens of the United States of America, whether in Minnesota or Mississippi.

Residents in this state should be aware a bill was introduced in the Legislature to support the presence of federal ICE agents here. State Sen. Michael McLendon of Hernando authored the act to offer grants to law agencies that partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel. ICE agents will be recognizable as such by their face masks.

There's even been an apparent attempt by the nation's highest court to dilute parts of one of the most important pieces of law ever recorded--the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965. Real hell on earth will and should break out if the public's right to vote comes under question as it did in the sixties.

The Mississippi Legislature is considering enacting its own VRA in a state where many citizens and officials could recite the federal version verbatim, considering how often it's been invoked here. The bill would strengthen voting rights and fight against dismantling of the 1965 law. The law would honor the late Rep. Robert G. Clark, the first Black elected to the Legislature after Reconstruction, serving from 1967-2003. Working for Mr. Clark while I was a House staff member was both a privilege and a pleasure.

The public schools--Mississippi's--are also at the forefront of unwarranted distress over vouchers and school choice. A flurry of would-be state laws has arisen for review in both chambers at the Capitol. Gov. Tate Reeves has even opted the state into a vague federal voucher program that would pay back donors who contribute to it.

The voucher-school choice proposal attracting the most opposition is state HB 2. The organization Parents for Public Schools has labeled as "dangerous" the idea that would apply myriad accountability measures to public schools, but none of the same for private schools. The bill prohibits the state from regulating in any way the curriculum, instructional methods, admissions policies, hiring practices or religious instruction of private voucher schools.

School choice bills have a history of defeat in Mississippi lawmaking, raising hopes the 2026 session will bring the same result. HB 2 barely survived the House, while the issue in the Senate seems to be of lighter weight, holding less chance for passage.

The PPS group has asked a relevant question of school choice backers that requires an answer from every lawmaker purporting to serve the people. "Please ask (your) representatives who voted for this bill why two state-funded schools should be held to such vastly different standards."

Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.