Not Funny!!

A few Sundays ago, in Atlanta, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections reported that a doctor from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Dr. Hannah Berry Gay (a south Jackson girl and Wingfield graduate), had successfully cured a Mississippi infant of HIV.   This is positive news for not only the medical community but for the world and especially Africa with the abundance of babies who are born there with HIV.  This is also positive news for Mississippi, a state that evidently is stuck in the 1950s and 60s according to several television comedians.

Jon Stewart, Daily Show slam on Dick Molpus and Mississippi

Just over twelve hours earlier before the announcement of the cure for HIV in infants, on Saturday Night Live in a regular skit called, "Really!?",  Seth Rogan and guest host and African-American, Kevin Hart joked about the Supreme Court's debate over Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.  The two comedians made jokes concerning Mississippi.  Hart stated that in Mississippi he wouldn't even feel comfortable going outside on a cloudy day, much less at night.

He continued, "Mississippi, listen - I know you're not as racist as you were in 1965, but understand something - no one is as racist as you were in 1965.  Listen, that is statistically the best year in history of racism.  Saying you're less racist now is like being pulled over for a DUI and telling the cop, 'I've been drunker.'"

Just weeks before, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart took a shot at Mississippi and it's former Secretary of State, Dick Molpus, basically implying that Molpus and the state of Mississippi were racist.  Molpus, a native of the racially notorious, Philadelphia, MS was known in Mississippi for his work towards racial reconciliation and the "comedy" against him and Mississippi was unjust.

Constance Slaughter-Harvey

According to a blog written by the Clarion-Ledger's Jerry Mitchell, Molpus was criticized for a possible federal clerical error.  In 1995, Mississippi legislators ratified the 13th Amendment after it being rejected by that same body 150 years earlier.   Then- Assistant Secretary of State and African American, Constance Slaughter-Harvey stated that she "distinctly remembered sendng in the final paperwork to have the 13th Amendment ratified.  The Office of Federal Register said the paperwork was never received.

Mitchell's blog quotes Slaughter-Harvey who worked in the civil rights movement with Medger Evers and Aaron Henry as saying any criticism should be directed at her since she was in charge.  Concerning the paperwork, she further states, "That was taken care of.  That was important to me."

On Stewart's show, he portrays Molpus as a good ole boy segregationist who files the paperwork in a shredder behind his desk.  

Jon Stewart has since given an on air apology, but there is something about the jokes from our comedian friends concerning the Mississippi of today that stikes me wrong.

If it were not for the fact that Mississippi has the most African American elected officials of any state, maybe it would be funny.  If it weren't for all the many people of both races who have made efforts towards getting along and treating each other in a civil manner, towards reconciliation, it might be funny.  If my children were not the second generation of students to be educated in integrated public schools, it might be funny.  If I did not live in an integrated neighborhood and community, it might be funny.  If the state that these comedians describe even existed anymore, it might be funny.  But it's not funny.

In 2007, my wife, Mary Lea Nations and two other female partners started a non-profit, association management company.  Her partners are Jean Weiss and Bertina Dubra, both of Clinton, MS.  Dubra just happens to be African American.  In the Mississippi of Saturday Night Live and Jon Stewart, this would not be possible.  Mary Lea and her partners have several national clients and at times are in the running for additional national clients.  Do you suppose the "comedy" about Mississippi helps them?  I think not.  Do you think that is funny?  No, it's not!