Day two in Mississippi and both of our meetings today went fantastic. We had a successful meeting with several faculty members at Jackson State - it looks like well be traveling back this way for a Camp soon! Highly exciting. We also met with faculty at nearby Tougaloo College, the idea of collaborating and combining a camp between the two schools was appealing. One thing that really stood out was the potential that Tougaloo College has to make progressive changes within the surrounding community. They seem to have a strong, deep relationship within the community.
After our meetings we drove north to Greenwood, to prepare for our first meeting tomorrow. Here in Greenwood it has been...interesting. We ate at a restaurant that was not progressive in political ideology, and felt rather uncomfortable. There are several places here that seem to appeal to a certain constituency. What made the experience even more uncomfortable was seeing personally written, and autographed photos of previous presidents and presidential hopefuls -- after riding though the "wrong" side of town. Seeing the depression, the countless run down houses, and the destitude areas of the town hurt our hearts. Another observation we made is that it doesn't seem to have any current possibility of upward mobility. With not many places to work here, we're curious about the history of this area and what people do for work.
Our overall impression of today is that there is A LOT of work to be done, and great potential. Were excited to be apart of moving Mississippi forward in a progressive direction. Today really validated the need and importance of this HBCU/Southern initiative.
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