Commentary: Calling all good people – If only good people in Mississippi would stand up and speak out. Their silence paralyzes us.

By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,

Each day here in Mississippi we see realities that just cannot be unseen. Jarring examples of injustice and inequity are just the norm here. Not that Mississippi is alone, per US News and World Report 2023 rankings, seven of the states ranked in the bottom fifteen are also Confederate states like ours. Mississippi was ranked 48th overall this past year, with New Mexico and Louisiana following.
Our state is awash in poverty – no state’s population is poorer than ours. We are ranked 50th in health care. We have the highest grocery taxes in America. We have the highest murder rate per capita in the nation, per the National Center for Health Statistics & Mississippi Crime Lab – the Hospitality State is a killing field.
You can’t unsee it. Pain and suffering are everywhere. People here sure don’t heed the words of Malaco Gospel artist Bishop Neal Roberson’s song, “Don’t Let the Devil Ride.” It really makes you wonder, with all this going on, where are all the good people? Where are the good people, and why aren’t they speaking up and taking action to help change our state?
A favorite question of mine for many years now is – what’s the payoff. At first glance, the word makes us think of some sort of payment, but it can also mean decision-making that leads to a certain outcome – final result. What would the result be if I do this versus doing that? What would be the result if I did something versus doing nothing? What’s the payoff if I skip cutting the grass this month? What’s the payoff of sticking to my monthly budget? In the context of this article – what is the payoff of remaining silent?
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was quoted as saying, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by good people.” He also said, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” So, again, why when we have so many good people in Mississippi, are they being silent? What is underneath their silence?
Some people say that Mississippi is the most church-attending state in America. While that seems believable, it also seems to open a door to contradiction. Of the thousands of churches in Mississippi, wouldn’t it be fair to say that most of them endeavor to support the spiritual health and wellbeing of others – whether parishioners or not? One website, https://www.bestplaces.net/religion/state/mississippi, claims that 59.2% of Mississippians are religious, a full ten percent higher than the national average, but so few stand up and speak out for fairness and equality. Puzzling, to say the least.
Catherine A. Sanderson authored a book in 2022, Why We Act: Turning Bystanders Into Moral Rebels. In an interview with National Public Radio’s Tonya Mosley, Mosley started with commentary following the murder of George Floyd – “First the voices demanded that Black lives mattered. Then we saw the video of an officer pinning down George Floyd by his neck. And that’s when we started to see a groundswell, thousands of people in cities and small towns throughout the country demanding racial justice. And this time around, they weren’t just Black voices. White people joined in numbers we’ve not seen in recent history.”
Mosley asked Sanderson about people’s obedience in difficult situations, and the author shared an example using then President Trump, “So it’s very clear that leaders of all sorts exert a tremendous influence. And when the president calls on violence in cities, when the president says, let’s not wear a mask, that, in fact, is a very powerful influence on lots of people.” Mosley then asked about people that don’t speak up because they don’t want to be ostracized from a particular group, and Sanderson responded, “in many cases, people believe, oh, my goodness, I’m going to be ostracized if I speak up. But in reality, everybody or most people in their group are actually feeling exactly the same.” She added, “I’m really pushing people to have the courage – to have the moral courage to stand up when you see or hear something that isn’t OK because in many cases, what you are doing is giving permission for other people to, in fact, support you because they, too, are feeling ashamed and afraid and worried about speaking up.”
Whether it’s from fear, lack of courage, or believing the political hyperbole of people like the Governor and the Lt. Governor of Mississippi, not enough good people are standing up and speaking out. This silence gives unserious leaders permission to maintain the status quo, thereby allowing everyday Mississippians to suffer in a culture of inequity.
For example, do you remember any white top-tier leaders in our state speaking out about the Rankin County Goon Squad? Have any of them called on Sheriff Bryan Bailey to resign? The Rankin County NAACP and attorney’s Trent Walker and Malik Shabazz have and continue to speak up – but not the white leadership. With a 56% population majority, it is critical that white folks find their voice, otherwise we all stay buckled to the bottom. Calling ALL good people – stand up, speak out, together we have the power to create lasting change.