# Why don’t Tom Steyer or George Soros move black Mississippians to Pensacola or Atlanta? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 28, 2018, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187 "2018-11-28T04:06:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/21 "2018-11-28T06:06:28Z")
Try looking at the history of South Africa and its Bantustans. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/22 "2018-11-28T06:52:32Z")
Trump won Florida by 113,000 votes. To overcome this deficit, about 300,000 new residents will be needed, when children and non-voters are factored in. (Black turnout may be up sharply, but still about ⅓ of eligible black voters do not vote. Constructing a new city for 300,000 people (to do what?) while decimating the cities they leave behind in Mississippi would be a gargantuan task. If done blatantly to affect elections it would attract huge bad publicity, and the GOP-controlled government of Florida would pull out all the stops, legal or not, to disenfranchise these new voters anyway. Meanwhile there are about **Three Million Democratic voters already living in Florida who _did not vote_ in 2016.** (That’s ‘Million with an M.’) Transporting someone a few miles to a polling station for an hour or so is much simpler logistically than arranging a major life-changing move. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/23 "2018-11-28T06:58:53Z")
Can’t we move all the white Mississippians into the 21st century? Ok, ok, that’s even more ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/24 "2018-11-28T07:03:37Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > That white population was racist dicks a hundred years ago. They were racist dicks when they gave LBJ single digit percentages while he racked up a historic landslide in the rest of the country. They were racist dicks when they repeatedly reelected Trent Lott. They were racist dicks this month, when they elected a woman who was even more open about her segregationist sympathies than Lott was. I think you are being unreasonably optimistic about their potential for change Your attitude towards the white population of Mississippi is bigoted. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > They don’t have to be monolithic. Each voter who moves makes a difference. And if somehow none of them take up the offer (which I seriously doubt), then that white billionaire isn’t out any money, is he? I think what **pool** was trying to say is that you appear to view black people as chess pieces that can be moved around at the whim of a white billionaire. Such a view of blacks is problematic. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > There will be jobs there if the billionaire sets them up. If a liberal billionaire were to create a company in Florida and announce that that company would only hire black people from Mississippi, that would be a major violation of civil rights law. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/25 "2018-11-28T08:14:56Z")
Was this just something that popped inside your head after hearing Cindy Hyde-Smith won? Please don’t tell me the forethought that went into this idea is days or weeks or months old. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/26 "2018-11-28T13:05:07Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So the effort is only worth doing if you can make the entire difference on your own? I guess I’ve been wasting my time doing GOTV all these years then. Why chicken out now? You’re spending Soros’ money, not your own. Looking at large employers in Florida, what you want to do is basically build a Walt Disney size park, staffed entirely with 60 000 black Mississippians. Seems doable, I guess. Got any name or theme ideas? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/27 "2018-11-28T14:46:18Z")
The best part of this idea is that you can be assured that it would do nothing to energize the racist white folks who didn’t vote in the past. IOW, you are making a common mistake of doing a static analysis. You can’t just change something that will have a big impact on people’s lives and assume that people will not do anything differently as a result. But that’ just one problem with the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/28 "2018-11-28T14:56:38Z")
Uh … you do realize that black Mississippians are free to move to Florida (or any other state) right now, and that most of the ones who want to move to Florida (or another state) do just that? I mean, undoubtedly there are some people who would like to move to another state but don’t have the means to cover relocation expenses, but by and large, people who are willing to move out of Mississippi for better economic or political opportunities are ALREADY moving. It’s why Mississippi has a hard time keeping young people of all races in-state (this is a known problem, and one that Mississippi politicians are concerned about). Conversely, most people who continue to live in Mississippi are here because they want to live here. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/29 "2018-11-28T15:08:30Z")
Simple. Political representation is not that important for them to want to move. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/30 "2018-11-28T15:29:53Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Trump won Florida by 113,000 votes. To overcome this deficit, about 300,000 new residents will be needed, when children and non-voters are factored in. (Black turnout may be up sharply, but still about ⅓ of eligible black voters do not vote. That is, until some Republican billionaire decides “Hey, for every 2 Dems (of any color) that Soros moves to Florida, I’ll move 1 Rep.” Now you need 600,000 new Dem residents, FL gains almost 1MM in population, becomes even more powerful in national elections and MS becomes even more solidly red - all for half the cost. :smack: It’s a turrible plan, even if people would move at the whim of a couple of billionaires. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/31 "2018-11-28T15:31:07Z")
Why doesn’t the troublesome billionaire blow all his money on a stupid idea that will alienate African-Americans for years to come and give Republicans a tremendous boost in the polls? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/32 "2018-11-28T15:33:09Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why doesn’t the troublesome billionaire blow all his money on a stupid idea that will alienate African-Americans for years to come and give Republicans a tremendous boost in the polls? > :rolleyes: When you put it that way, it starts to look a bit more attractive. Hey SlackerInc, I’m onboard with spending Soros’ money this way. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/33 "2018-11-28T15:34:57Z")
I was not surprised when I saw who started this thread. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/34 "2018-11-28T15:36:22Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > These long-suffering people deserve to be airlifted out of that bigoted hellhole. The White Man’s Burden, amirite? White liberals must rescue these poor dark-skinned victims. Ask the average black Mississippian if they live in a “bigoted hellhole”, or if they have any desire to move to a place like Florida or Atlanta. Did their thoughts in the matter ever cross your mind? ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/35 "2018-11-28T16:03:42Z")
The OP believes that black people are stupid. This is just another creative way for him to say that again. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/36 "2018-11-28T17:28:25Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Nothing in your post explains what exactly is terrible about it. Black Mississippians should just sit and stew in a state where the white (bare) majority is so extreme they never get a shot at any statewide office? Why is that the right thing? Mississippi state [Senate](https://ballotpedia.org/Mississippi_State_Senate) is 36% Democrat, and [House](https://ballotpedia.org/Mississippi_House_of_Representatives) is 38% Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/37 "2018-11-28T18:32:02Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Mississippi state [Senate](https://ballotpedia.org/Mississippi_State_Senate) is 36% Democrat, and [House](https://ballotpedia.org/Mississippi_House_of_Representatives) is 38% Democrat. That’s not what “statewide office” means. It’s a singular position that is voted on statewide, like governor. Senators and Reps are elected by districts. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/38 "2018-11-28T19:25:21Z")
Democrats _do_ occasionally win statewide office in MS, for the record. The current AG is a Democrat and has a real shot at the governorship next year, and there have been other Democratic governors in the post-Dixiecrat era. Granted, all of these people have been white and fairly conservative as Democrats go, but it is generally easier for a Democrat to win a state-level office than a Senate seat. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/39 "2018-11-28T20:07:13Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I was not surprised when I saw who started this thread. > [@Chingon](#): > > The OP believes that black people are stupid. This is just another creative way for him to say that again. The question on strategic relocation is a valid one - the costs/benefits etc without personalizing argument towards other posters. Don’t personalize arguments in this fashion. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187/40 "2018-11-28T23:51:31Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > This would just be another form of gerrymandering. People can and should live wherever they want. Another form of gerrymandering? Sure, in a way. And I have argued over and over that instead of whining about gerrymandering, Democrats should win back statehouses and do some serious gerrymandering ourselves after the next census. The results earlier this month give me encouragement that this process has begun. As for people living wherever they want, what did I say against that? Do you think I’m proposing rounding people up at gunpoint? :dubious: I live in Minnesota but near the North Dakota border. Lots of people have moved in recent years to western ND to work in the oil fields. No one made them do it, they did so because there were suddenly jobs there that weren’t there before. Still, I’m glad you raised the Dubuque example, as it shows that the feasibility is greater than the naysayers are allowing. I’m sure those “do-gooders” didn’t have the resources of a Steyer or Soros by any means. And BTW, I’m sure that was at least some help to Iowa’s Democratic Party; meanwhile, Missouri has gone so red, I’d also like to see black Missourians move to more fruitful pastures. In St. Louis in particular, it could be as easy as offering them subsidized housing on the other side of the river, in Illinois, where they could still live in the same metro area and not seriously disrupt their lives. > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Your attitude towards the white population of Mississippi is bigoted. Pffft. The white population of Mississippi (or 90 percent of them, to be precise) has shown who and what they are. As Riemann archly noted, they are not living in the 21st century, and prospects are dim for getting them there. > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > If a liberal billionaire were to create a company in Florida and announce that that company would only hire black people from Mississippi, that would be a major violation of civil rights law. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you aren’t purposely strawmanning me. But you need to read more carefully. Right in the OP (emphasis added): > [@SlackerInc](#): > > Recruit lots of Mississippians (but **still hire locals too** ) :dubious: > [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Simple. Political representation is not that important for them to want to move. It’s incredibly easy to use arguments like these to stick up for the status quo. There has been in recent years a growing concern about “food deserts”, where healthy foods like fresh fruits and vegetables are not available locally for residents. Predominately black parts of Mississippi have been singled out for attention: > **[Mississippi 'Food Deserts' Fuel Obesity Epidemic](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/mississippi-food-deserts-fuel-obesity-epidemic)** > > As the government highlights the growing health risks of childhood obesity, Betty Ann Bowser reports from the Mississippi Delta on how so-called "food deserts" keep some communities from access to healthy food. > [@](#): > > Like so many Delta towns, Lambert was once the heart of a thriving farming community in Quitman County. Most of its residents are African-American and descendants of sharecroppers. > > As farm workers were replaced by machines, many found work in nearby textile mills, but, over the past decade, those jobs have also dried up. Today, nearly half the town lives below the federal poverty line. Really sounds like these people are just fine where they are. :dubious: > [@](#): > > And, in this part of Mississippi, there is no public transportation, no taxis. In American food deserts, gas stations, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants are the only places to buy something to eat. And, when money is tight, the dollar menu at the local fast-food joint is tempting. > > At the only McDonald’s in Quitman County, the salad menu isn’t served, so it’s burgers, McNuggets and the like. > > DR. AL RAUSA, Mississippi State Department of Health: The variety of the foods that are available are poor, poor-quality nutrients.[…]
 > Medical studies show that people who live in these food deserts have higher rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes than those in areas served by mainstream grocers. > > MICHELLE OBAMA, first lady: We can’t tell people to buy fresh food if there’s no place to buy it, right? People pooh-pooh this kind of activism by saying “they could just move to a place that offered those things if it were important to them”, and maybe you agree with that. I don’t. I recognize that people often are governed by inertia. They may not even know what they are missing. Being offered a carrot (there are no sticks involved in my plan!) can make a difference to spur them to make a change. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-tom-steyer-or-george-soros-move-black-mississippians-to-pensacola-or-atlanta/825187.md?page=3)