Mark Braboy
Blue & White Flash / Staff Writer
“Free at last, free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” Who would have immagined that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s statement in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech would not be actually realized for Mississipians until Feb 7, 2013?
This is the date that African-Americans in the State of Mississippi became free and equal citizens of the State of Mississippi! We have all our rights now, so it is time to celebrate!
There was no error in that last statement. On Feb. 7, 2013, the State of Mississippi finally officially ratified the 13th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, thereby outlawing slavery in the state. Although it was originally ratified in 1995, for some reason (which is still unknown to this day) it never made it to the U.S. Archivist and remained unofficial for almost 20 years.
According to an article in the Clarion-Ledger, this error was discovered by Ranjan Batra, an associate professor from the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Mississippi native Ken Sullivan after seeing the award winning film, “Lincoln.”
To me, 148 years after the abolishment of slavery, African-Americans in Mississippi have never been legitimately free. Therefore, black citizens could have been open to all kinds of instances of kidnapping, forced servitude, and other similar traumatizing incidents that our ancestors experienced if this did not come to light.
It looks absolutely disgraceful that Mississippi, who has a bad reputation anyway, has to be subjected to so much negative criticism, negative exposure, and blatant mockery. Popular radio host, Charlamagne Tha God of the Breakfast Club recently awarded Mississippi the “Donkey of the Day” honor .
“There is absolutely no reason to be black and live in Mississippi. Now I see why “Mississippi Burning” is so riveting. The fact that you had to be reminded by the Steven Spielberg movie, “Lincoln” before you had to push the reform into effect? What other movies do you need to watch to know what’s going on in America, Mississippi? Welcome to the 21st century!” said Charlamagne.
Honestly, I find nothing to disagree with him about. Anyone who has been paying attention to the news for the last several years knows that when it comes to state politics and overall management of a state, Mississippi seems to moving backwards.
Let me name a few: Amendment 26 which was an anti-abortion proposition, the passing of the Voter ID law, HB488 – the racially charged anti-immigration bill, and tragedies like the 2011 modern day lynching of James Anderson by white teenagers.
These incidents further promotes the stereotype of Mississippi being the most racist place on earth.
This is what bothers me about this recent ratification. Wasn’t slavery abolished in 1865? Even if this paperwork had been handled in in 1995, it would still be 130 years after the fact. Why did it take so long to become ratified in the first place?
After the amendment was finally was ratified in 1995, why was there was no one to follow up and see if it was actually sent to the U.S. Archivist? While one could speculate on the possibilities as to why the document was never sent, the State of Mississippi should be held responsible for letting this go unofficial for so many years.
Thankfully, the State of Mississippi did manage to get the 13th Amendment ratified and made official. It pleases me to know that they realized how big of a mistake they made However, now I wonder what other “I’s” have not been dotted or “T’s” have not been crossed. Could there be any other Constitutional Rights or laws that have not been ratified? I thank Mr. Batra and Mr. Sullivan for discovering this error, for if it was not for them, I seriously doubt this would have ever been discovered.
From this point forward, we as Mississippians should be vigilant in knowing what goes on within our government. Who knows what other positive changes we could make from this?
The views expressed in the commentary are those of the writer(s) and in no way represent the views of The Blue & White Flash.
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