Racism, alive but quiet

As I address the issue of Race I want to point out that these are merely observations. Having only been in Jackson for three weeks we are just beginning to see and understand the racism that exists in the south and in the country today. If you would have asked me 6 months ago if racism still takes place in the United States I would have told you yes but could not have articulated on what it looks like. Deep down in myself i think there was a denial that it still takes place maybe because we don't see it in large scale, violence oriented movements like they did throughout American history. But as we've become involved in a predominantly black community and have been making friends with people in that community we've seen that racism is alive and well but it is a quiet racism. It's not out spoken or talked about but you see it in the way people act and live their lives. In Jackson there are 2 interracial church's, one of which is less than 2 years old. Sadly the truth that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of in the 60's about Sunday morning being the most segregated time of the week remains true to this day. Blacks and white's are not living together in any large scale way. We see it Jackson.
Yesterday our new friend "D" took us out for a drive to explore the outlying area's around Jackson and to see the reservoir. D drives one of the vans that take our camp kids to lunch, swimming, and field trips. We've already become close and have had many good talks about life in Mississippi. D, being an African American, openly gives us valuable incite into the culture of our neighborhood. While driving yesterday we were able to talk about race. As we drove around the neighborhood of million dollar homes that line the reservoir he explained how he see's racism being lived out now saying, "the white folks move out of the city cause they don't want to be around us". Our neighborhood of west Jackson was once the main white area of town but as blacks moved in the white people left taking their money with them leaving the black community to fiend for themselves. West Jackson is now a place of high crime, homelessness, and abandon houses where drugs and vandalism are prevalent. D went on to explain how the city has multiple different area's which consist of different class but that in most cases even the upper class communities are separated by race.

Emily and I have set Friday night as our "date night" which is a nice time for us to set aside to be together. We have been going out to eat and usually end up in North Jackson which is predominantly white middle and upper class only because most business's in west Jackson have left. Friday night we got into a conversation with our white waitress about Jackson and we asked if she recommended any restaurants in West Jackson. She immediately said, " oh you don't want to go to west Jackson".
She went on to speak of how it was once a really nice area before the white people started to move out. Needless to say she was a little surprised to hear that we were living there. All this to say that we are becoming aware of the race issue's that still plague our country. We feel as though we are just beginning to struggle and wrestle with these issue's and are by no means experts but we are committed to doing what we can to be a part of the reconciliation process. Our community is a community of deep need, and doesn't just need a hand out. Our community needs people who will invest long term by becoming a part of the community, and empowering people to do things for themselves. We see so clearly how when whites and blacks come together to live and share their lives their differences compliment each other.

Written on JUNE 26th