Day 6 The Mississippi Delta

Let me start off by saying Two Sisters in Jackson, Mississippi was our favorite southern food in our travels through the south. There were other places like Girlies in Memphis, Tennesee that pushed it out of the ball park in regards to taste, but Two Sisters had the taste, left off the weight, and offered seconds! We loved it. The two story house turned restaurant was cozy, the staff was hospitable and so friendly. Our stop there made us feel like we belonged in the south!

In Jackson we also sampled some pretty tasty coffee, drove around a bit to see the states capital city, and hoped over that infamous railroad track every city or town has, to go see the ‘other side’. And after all of that we hopped on the highway headed to Clarksdale. But first, I could not miss seeing the mighty, rolling Mississippi River as it sped through the Delta, so first stop was Vicksburg.

Vicksburg also made sense from the perspective of visiting a historical point in the Civil War. Vicksburg, the turning point of the war. The south, divided in half, by the north’s capturing of this river city. River commerce haulted, the south surrounded by an anaconda, the Robert E. Lee’s steps toward surrender placed in motion after the seizing of this city. So we drove through, and we looked, and we looked, and we saw.

The river is robust and large, the city is delicate and an attraction for those wanting to glimpse into a southern past, the town is quiet, there is a national park remembering both sides of the battle, as many many Americans died for the Civil War, and scattered throughout the town were confederate statues, reminders of a peculiar past.

The driving commenced, we refueled, and we drove on through the Delta to the devil’s crossroads. And can I say, the weight of the south was upon me. Here is when the reality hit me, I am traveling with a white man, I am black. These websites I keep finding, trying to understand Mississippi’s economy and how it is the poorest state in the country, keep leading me to articles that are about the race disparities and divisions in this place. One article informing me that Mississippi has THE LARGEST population of African American’s of any state in the country, and a high percentage of them are living at or under the poverty line. Another confronting me that in this very red state, over 40% of those who voted red were either undecided or disapproving of interracial marriage.

Ah! I just knew my life was going to end on this trip… or it was going to really being! This is the fear that I had to ride around in at times. What would happen if we had a flat tire, what would happen if we got pulled over. I’m not just black, but I am the wife of a white man. And at the same time a sort of excitement, my husband and I, we are going to have no other choice but to stand up for one another, to stand up for our choice to marry, and to stand up interracial spaces in the United States. Some might mistakenly believe being a black woman married to a white man could provide certain feelings of safety from racial tension, hell no! It brings concerns that any day someone might feel it is there chance to put either of us in ‘our place’ when it comes to racial interrelationships. I am never sure what a stranger might feel it is their place to say or do. But this is what we prayerfully live through because we know that ourselves, our friends, our family and the world will be better for it.

So, from that point forward we felt the best way to negotiate our space in this unfamiliar southern region, was to do so calmly and quietly. And we moved forward to Clarksdale, Mississippi for the night.