Monthly Archives: July 2009

I have long argued that Southerners are distinctly more punitive than other Americans.  In an experimental post called “The Religious Roots of Southern Punitiveness,” I noted that rates of incarceration in the cluster of states just to the east of … Continue reading →

       Strom Thurmond                Trent Lott                  Lydia Chassaniol (This post is part of a series concerning a horrific crime that has divided a small Mississippi town.  The entire series, arranged chronologically, can be found here.) We have been asking how a Mississippi State Senator can be a … Continue reading →

Now that all the relevant tapes and manuscripts have been released some folks are growing weary of the Gates-Crowley affair.  When one side in a dispute says the issue has been overblown and it’s time to move on, you know … Continue reading →

James Bibbs’ perjury trial has been postponed.  Jury selection was originally scheduled to begin on Tuesday, July 28th.  (You can find background material for this post here.) The Jackson Clarion-Ledger may be ignoring state senator Lydia Chassaniol’s intimate ties to one America’s most racist … Continue reading →

I met Reginald Lyles in September, 1998 when I was Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Kansas City, Kansas, a mostly white church in an ethnically changing neighborhood. We had called Marcus Goodloe, a young Black man, as Associate … Continue reading →

President Obama raised eyebrows across the nation by suggesting that the Cambridge Police Dempartment acted “stupidly” in arresting a Harvard professor after his identity and home ownership had clearly been established. In a recent ABC interview, Obama softened that comment a bit by calling Sgt. James Crowley, … Continue reading →

In his Grits for Breakfast blog, Scott Henson suggests there is more to Gates’ reaction than the ghosts of racial history.  Having read several accounts of the incident, I think its root cause may or may not have been racial but was much … Continue reading →

(This post is part of a series concerning a horrific crime that has divided a small Mississippi town.  The entire series, arranged chronologically, can be found here.) In my first post in this series I suggested that Mississippi State Senator Lydia Chassaniol was in trouble for … Continue reading →

Riot police separated black separatists from white supremacists in Paris, Texas today.  Not a pretty sight. Not pretty, but certainly popular.  Nothing sells like white folks and black folks exchanging insults.  The rally in Paris has attracted national and international … Continue reading →