Segregationist Tells Ole Miss President to Back Off Student Body
As if the University of Mississippi needs more attention given to the subject, a segregationist has chimed in on the recent controversy surrounding a student chant.
The chant, sung by some students at sporting events, includes the phrase "The South will rise again." School administrators, faculty, alumni, donors, and coaches have asked that the chant no longer be used, but Richard Barrett, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a "white supremacist," told University of Mississippi President Dan Jones to back off, the Daily Mississippian reports.
Barrett took on a previous University of Mississippi president, Robert Khayat, in 2000 over a ban on waving the Confederate flag at Ole Miss's stadium, the report says. Barrett says students should have the right to say whatever they want.
"Democracy is offensive to tyrants, but I am glad it is," Barrett tells the Daily Mississippian. "Mississippi is the most democratic state in the union. It is our legacy from the post-Reconstruction era. We have more people elected, we have second primaries and runoffs to prevent pluralities from ruling and minorities from lording over the majority. What a virtue of being a Mississippian, and what a lesson to America."
The SPLC says Barrett's stance on the issue is no surprise.
"Barrett's been around forever, and he's been involved in lots of protests in support of racist ideals," Heidi Beirich of SPLC tells the Daily Mississippian.
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Tags: Mississippi | colleges | University of Mississippi
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Reader Comments
Sorry Mr.Lester...
I have to disagree. We are the Ole Miss Rebels. While I agree there comes a time to put away some things, other things should never change. The University of Mississippi is tied to history. Some good and some bad. We should make positive changes for the future without forgetting who we are and where we came from and why we strive to be better than we were. It doesn't matter how many changes are made for some people. Those are the same people who will never be happy and will always have something to complain about. You can't "prove" anything to them because they don't want to see or accept it. I for one don't waste time trying to appease them because they are never satisfied.
Ole Miss Pharaohs
I've been advocating for decades that we change the Ole Miss moniker to the Pharaohs. If white Mississippians want to show the nation, and themselves, the've changed, a concession to the feelings of their black athletes, especially, should be considered.
The Mississippi River's delta region near Ole Miss is much like the Nile River delta region of the black lands, the classical civilization of black folk(s).
Damn Yankee
As one whose great great grandfathers fought on the wrong side in the War of Northern Agression, I hesitate to weigh in. But....
I can't agree with Rick of MS when he states-
'At the heart of it, "The South will rise again" is no different than "We shall overcome" - it's an expression of hope by a people subjugated by an outside influence."
You can make a case that the North subjugated the South during Reconstruction. However, Reconstruction only lasted 11 years (1865-1876). After which, you good old boys had it all your own way again.
The antebellum South you so want to "rise again" was built on the backs of slaves owned by the ancestors of those chanting students. Once those slaves were freed, they continued to provide cheap labor as sharecroppers who lived in abject poverty, unable to vote,
subject to Jim Crow laws and terrorized into true subjugation through lynchings, burnings, bombings and beatings.
The "South shall rise again" the same as "We shall overcome"? Not hardly.
I am surprised African American students at Ole Miss aren't chanting "Watch your back. Malcolm lives."
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