Double Ending

I have been watching the steel beam contruction at our local regional hospital with interest this last several weeks.

When I moved to Jackson Mississippi in 1965 I attended a local High School for the 65-66 school year, my tenth grade. They build a new school way out north that year, which became my School for the last two years till I graduated in 68. There was a nice Presbyterian Church in the area I enjoyed attending on occasion.

Over the decades the area became increasingly integrated and experienced white flight, which is a phenomenon that will never stop because people in the south really struggle with equality.

The church sold its building to a black congregation over twenty years ago, and my High School is 90 percent Afro-american
The once open halls are now series of locked doors and it looks more like a prison than a high school with guards in the halls.

Last week the little church closed its second building, apparently the area they moved to also has experienced a continuing white flight and it could not sustain its viability. Jackson is a city that survives with surrounding mostly white suburbs and towns with a core that is struggling to survive.

The cultural, racial, educational and economic issues surrounding integration are still alive and well in the south. Which is why I left when I had the opportunity.

From time to time the issue of the homogeneous unit principle resurfaces. The fact that people just like to be around people that are like them in dress, status and racial affiliation seems to be true, even after so many years of integration. The church in the south has fought the changes the hardest and longest, and somehow, it seems they are behind the curve on this issue.