What the governor of Mississippi says on the campaign trail might only modestly impact whether people decide to move to this state or to stay here.
There are certainly larger factors that are making it difficult for Mississippi to keep up with the rest of the South, the fastest-growing region of the country.
Having only one city of significant size doesn’t help at a time when the national trends are toward urban centers and away from rural communities.
When that one city is as dysfunctional as Jackson has been for several years, whatever drawing power it would have is diminished. Most people are not going to want to live in a city where they feel in danger, where the streets are deteriorating and where the water is regularly unsafe to drink or not available.
Federal intervention to fix the water infrastructure may take care of that issue, and the state Legislature’s decision to expand the reach of the Capitol Police — if it withstands court challenges — may lessen the crime problem. The repeated disasters that it took to get that federal and state intervention, though, will take a while to fade from the public consciousness.
Still, it would be nice if Tate Reeves would be a little more cautious about what he says and does when he’s running for reelection, and think about how those words and actions might be perceived beyond these state’s borders.
His campaign kickoff events, for example, harkened back to an unflattering period in this state’s history when most of white Mississippi closed ranks against desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement. It was a time when this state conveyed the message that outsiders would be treated like an invading force.
During one stretch of his kickoff speech early this month, the Republican incumbent went off on a ridiculous rant about how “liberals” on the East and West coasts are out to get Mississippi and are using his Democratic challenger, Brandon Presley, as a pawn.
Describing these outsiders as “extreme,” “radical” and “vicious,” Reeves said they look down on Mississippi while promoting an agenda that runs counter to the state’s socially conservative nature.
“They think they can teach all of us Mississippians a lesson,” Reeves was quoted as saying. “They do not like who we are, and they do not like what we believe. They look at all we have accomplished as conservatives, and they hate it. They see our progress on education and the economy, and they want to stop it. You see, a successful, thriving, growing Mississippi does not work for them, not if it is also a God-fearing, family-loving and truth-believing, hard-working conservative Mississippi. ... They want Mississippi to be the butt of their jokes. ... They want to kick Mississippi around, and you and me are simply in their way.”
Some of the demagogues in this state’s past could not have performed any better. Reeves wasn’t defending white supremacy, thankfully, but what he did say reinforced a negative stereotype of Mississippi that has been hard to shake: namely, that we’re different from everyone else, that outsiders don’t understand our ways and, in fact, they are a threat to them.
Not exactly a welcome-wagon greeting.
It’s a bit perplexing as to why Reeves thought he needed to resort to an isolationist diatribe.
He has, after all, some strengths on which to run, besides his proven ability to amass large campaign war chests.
The state’s unemployment rate is at a historic low. There have been some notable gains in educational attainment, though not as significant as Reeves or the Mississippi Department of Education try to say. Teacher pay is way up, and income taxes are coming down.
None of this, at least so far, has produced the feared squeeze on the state treasury. In fact, state government has been producing unprecedented surpluses, aided in large part by the massive amounts of federal coronavirus relief funds scattered all over the country. Reeves’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while uneven at times, produced about as good a result as any state achieved in trying to deal with the worst health crisis in a century.
With that many positives on which to base his reelection pitch, why would Reeves feel compelled to try to resuscitate in this state an antipathy and distrust toward those who “aren’t from here”? Maybe he believes, as do some in the national press, that he is vulnerable.
And what’s with that weird 13-second video his campaign posted to social media at the time of his launch? What was supposed to be the subliminal messaging of showing a tight-lipped Reeves, his face interposed on a young Clint Eastwood’s body, shooting down Mexican bandits? Anti-immigration? Pro-gun? Or just silly?
If Reeves really doesn’t want Mississippi to be the butt of anyone’s jokes, he shouldn’t be so obliging in providing the material.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 662-581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
