Wasn’t it Mariland briefly in the '80s? 
OK then.
MT = Montana.
Heh.
I go to and through Mississippi a lot. I like it there. Nice people and nice places, for the most part.
Let’s take a little tour around the country, counter-clickwise: Miami, Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston.
No gas station robberies in any of those places? No racial problems? No cops that don’t want to get involved in neighborhood disputes that could turn out to be racially explosive?
RIGHT! :rolleyes:
The OP’s situation is bad, but hardly unique to Mississippi. If this situation was in Chicago, how many of you would immediately jump on a bandwagon saying “Chicago is ass”? I’ve been to Chicago, and liked it there just fine.
Let’s not paint the whole state of Mississippi with a broad brush just because the OP lives in a tough neighborhood. Y’all have some tough neighborhoods in your towns, too. You know it and I know it.
MH = Marshall Islands
[sub]damn state-ists[/sub]
Race Wars, huh? OK, how about … NASCAR vs Formula One
… what?
MB - Manitoba
A digital cam with video clip and audio capabilities could also be worth its weight in gold. News shows love dramatic home video, if anything heated or emotional crops up . If you prefer a more static arrangement there are several web camera security systems out there that are childs play to set up and will capture anything that moves in their field of view. You already have a PC so the expensive part is done.
The sewer’s in your head. You’re a bigot.
Really? Sounds more like he doesn’t like Mississippi. Not sure where being a bigot comes out in that.
Now, if he said “All them darkies make 'ol Miss a sewer”, you might have something. But he didn’t. He’s just stating that he hates the place he lives.
If I were still stuck in Montana, I would probably be saying the same thing.
Have you considered talking to the Mayor, or the Aldermen? Here’s a link to them. Vicksburg’s public image is very important to them since it is linked directly to tourism. I think you will find that any of these three people would be happy to talk with you about the problem.
Also, it’s been my experience that you CAN find Mississippians who are working for change; as mentioned already, there are probably groups in your area similar to Mission Mississippi who would love to work with your neighborhood re: racial reconciliation.
Everybody knows that it’s not a PLACE that is a “sewer”, or kills people at gas stations, but it’s the folks who live there that are/do. (please excuse the awkward construction of that! ) And, again obviously, Mississippi is no different from any other place on Earth in that we have the good, the bad, and the ugly here all cheek-by-jowl with one another. However, I see that more and more Mississippians are committed to weeding out the ugliness of the “race war”, and that gives me hope for the future.
And Anaamika, I’m sorry to hear about your uncle’s murder.
I’m not trying to judge or anything, but isn’t it possible that the fact that you don’t know any of your neighbors part of the problem? If your neighbors know you, it’s possible that might help you a lot, you wouldn’t be the “other”.
A few years back, when I was still married, we lived in a community which was appoximately 80% African-American, and we were the minority there. But we connected with our neighbors, conversing with them almost daily, trading recipes, etc. My wife stopped a buglary in progress by reporting it when she noticed a window open in a home where she knew the residents were on vacation. We tried to help keep order by reporting to the police when a group of teenagers was hanging around our cul-de-sac, drinking and throwing the bottles on the ground. And yes, we suffered minor repercussions for the last one (our car was egged), but we had the support of the neighbors. And when it was time for us to leave, we had visits from many of them trying to convince us to stay, that the neighborhood would be worse without us.
I don’t want to bring a Pollyannish unreality to the situation or try to say that everything was perfect in our case or would be in yours, but I think that reaching out to neighbors is usually a good thing.
“buglary” = burglary