We Will Not Discriminate
In January, the city of Starkville proposed a Pro-LGBT Equality Resolution. A few days later, Hattiesburg followed with the same resolution. Both were passed unanimously by their respective city officials.
The resolution "declares it the public policy of the City to respect the inherent worth of every person, without regard to a person's race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity and expression, age, marital status, sexual orientation, familal status, veteran's status, disability, or source of income"...; in essence all peoples are equal & shall not be discriminated against.
By March, however, citizens of the state were calling Governor Phil Bryant to oppose Senate Bill 2681. The "Religious Freedom Bill." The freedom for business owners to discriminate. Their "right" to refuse service to someone if the owner felt it went against their religious principles. It's not stated, specifically, who someone might turn away on the grounds of religious freedom in the bill, but considering the radical talk prior, it is most certainly centered around the LGBT community.
Citizens were outraged & tried to kill the bill by phoning in, but to no avail. Governor Bryant signed the bill on 03 April. While it doesn't go into effect until July, those opposed did not sit idly by. Specifically two business of the Fondren neighbourhood in Jackson decided to push back. The campaign If You're Buying, We're Selling was born.
While the campaign is a response to Mississippi legislation, having more than 500 businesses so far to sign on; it has stretched further, with businesses in other states in support, the news reaching as far as Europe, as well as having the approval of George Takei.
The campaign is receiving more news coverage everyday, & thus garnering more supporters. Of course, if you were to read comments to some of these stories, as I have, you would see a lot of nay-sayers. That a sticker is lame, all Mississippians are just racists & bigots, that it's everyone in the states fault because we keep voting the bigots back in office, death wishes for the entire state of Mississippi, people proclaiming their intention to specifically boycott the entire state, they'd rather the sticker didn't include something about business.
There are a few things I would like to say about that.
01. Gross generalizations are not only illogical but also unsound. Also as all people personally know, the list of knowledge goes accordingly; Inhabitants > recent, brief visit > distant, past visit > never visited or lived in area. You know this goes for anywhere in the world. You do not like people who have never visited your state or country to assume they know everything about your area, so show the same courtesty if you expect it to begin with.
02. Most people have a basic knowledge of how voting works. Many people have backed a politician because they believed in their policies, only to have the candidate, once in office, to not live up to those policies. Many people often decide simply not to vote, thinking that their voice doesn't matter. Many people want to vote differently but the candidates running do not reflect what the voter believes, thus leaving the voter to choose the "lesser of two evils". Many times the candidate is running unopposed. Lots of times people simply do not research ahead of time. Many times people do not research, at all, for themselves. These things are not limited to the state of Mississippi, nor other southern states.
03. Woah! Seriously, you're handing out death wishes? As part of the Union (whether a state or a territory) one of your main objectives during the Civil War was to REUNITE the north with the south. What is all this talk about brother vs brother & reunification if you really only wish us all to just die, or fall off into the ocean, simply not exist, etc. And why are you promoting hate? People generally only promote hate for things that they fear. You've said it yourself when the tables are turned, that racists & bigots only hate other races & the gay community because they fear them. So, are you trying to tell me you fear Mississippi? According to you, Mississippi can't do anything right & is insignificant & underserving. What's to fear, exactly?
04. I think you're missing the point. The point of Senate Bill 2681 was all about the business. Discrimination by businesses towards "lesser" customers. To counteract that in a campaign you would need to address both of these points. The discrimination, as well as the business aspect. Simply saying "We Don't Discriminate" for the sticker is nice & all, but the whole thing would end up falling short in its counter-attack of the discriminating against customers part of the bill. The campaign would lose momentum and fizzle out. Or is that what you're hoping for?
05. The sticker is not lame. What would be lame, however, is if the people opposed to the new bill just said, "Oh well." & did absolutely nothing. All things come from a start, no matter how small. Change never happens over night. If you want something to change you must stand up & fight for what you believe in. Change also needs support, for it to actually work. You are perfectly within your right to boycott something, but know that in this instance, you are not helping. You think you are helping by telling people you disagree with the law, but you are not helping all the people that you say you are for; the LGBT community or the people against discrimination, which is what this sticker campaign is all about.
06. Also saying that you will be taking your business to Louisiana or Alabama because Mississippi is discriminatory of the gay community makes you sound uneducated, considering that your conviction of protest makes neighbouring states seem like "Gay Paradise", when they are in fact far from it. Louisiana just dealt another blow, in a long line, towards LGBT equality. In Alabama, as well as numerous other states, one can be fired from their job simply for not being straight, among other rights they still deny.
Also if you're going to go out of your way to boycott anything from Mississippi, I'll help you. You wouldn't want to exclaim an all state boycott but end up being caught red-handed with a Mississippi made product. That would be embarrassing.
So, here is your comprehensive list of all things manufactured or originating from Mississippi.
- Beers
- Nissan, Toyota
- GE Aviation
- Viking Range Kitchen Appliances
- Back Yard Burgers
- C Spire Wireless
- Fat Possum Records
- Delta Blues (music genre)
- Hancock Fabrics
- Jr. Food Mart
- Mossy Oak
- Peavey Electronics
- Stein Mart
- Triton Systems ATM's
- MCI, Inc (under Verizon)
- Hancock Bank, Trustmark Bank
- Bryan Foods
- New Deal Supermarkets
- Sqwincher
- Wicks n' More
- Famous people from Mississippi
- Anything by Charlaine Harris (including True Blood Series)
- Currently being filmed in Mississippi
- Films about Mississippi
- Films shot in Mississippi
- Anything Muppet related as Jim Henson was a Mississippian
- Anything Oprah Winfrey related
- Authors, Musicians, Inventers, Actors, Artists, etc
As of mid-April three more Mississippi cities have unanimously passed the Equality Resolution; Oxford, Magnolia, & Greenville. Things may move at a slower pace in Mississippi, but they do move; they do progress. The Mississippi today is different from the Mississippi ten years ago. Ten years ago it was different than ten years before that & so on & so forth. Advocates for the LGBT community say to love a person, accept a person just as they are. It is something we should all practice for all peoples. It is a great way to live. Love & acceptance always win out over hate & oppression. So, I find it sad that some people say this, but they don't really mean it for anyone except themselves.
Mississippi is the bastard child of the United States. The one that the rest of the nation prides itself in belitting & abusing with the nations nose shoved so far up Mississippi's skirt while it is simultaniously wanting to distance itself from this state as fast as it can.
That is what you think about Mississippi, is it not? That it is a back-water sesspool of highly-charged racists & bigots. That we are all inbred, pedophiles, & kitten killers. That we are illiterate & uneducated. That we have dirt floors, lack indoor plumbing & can't afford shoes. That we are intolerant of other other cultures & customs. That we're all buck-toothed, scratching our asses on the front porches of our little wooden shacks wondering if 2 + 2 = 15 or 7.
It would be a gross generalization for me to accuse everyone in the other fourty eight states of thinking this way about Mississippi. But, if I were to think the way that at least half of you do, this is what I've read, so it must be true. You can believe what you want. But both you & I know that unless you live the daily life in a place, & experience more than simply a neighbourhood or a few random townships, then you're only making assumptions. It is never everyone, & sometimes not even most of the people. It is also never all good or all bad in a single place. You only have to turn the mirror on your own state or city to find racists, bigots, pedophiles, kitten killers, the illiterate & uneducated, the poor, & the intolerant of other cultures & customs. They're everywhere, though they do not make up the general population of any one place.
You do not even have to praise Mississippi for any accomplishments or strides in any type of equality or fairness. To not acknowledge, however, that things have changed; to just brush them under the rug because you think it doesn't count only shows that you are someone who is unaccepting. To only want to talk about the bad, not only makes you a Debbie Downer (Hint: yeah, nobody really likes a Debbie Downer), it also shows that you have far too much time on your hands. Time that could be better spent in constructive (the operative word here being constructive) criticism such as "Here, perhaps try this, it worked for us" instead of petty criticism of "die all of you die!"
For anyone that wants to know who wrote all of this: I am a Mississippian. I am not ashamed of who I am, nor of where I come from. This is my home. Being a Mississippian doesn't define who I am entirely. I am also a lover of original Star Trek, as well as Star Wars. I have a stamp collection. I love animals & have several kitty children. I have a penpal. I adore foreign languages & am trying to learn as many as possible.
I also am someone who has always believed in fairness & equality for all; no matter gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, etc. All people are equal, all people deserve love & acceptance. And while I do believe that if we forget the past we are doomed to repeat it, I am also someone who believes in forgiveness. Forgiveness IS acceptance. Forgiveness IS love. Don't forget the past, yes; but don't dwell on it so much that you can not move on, nor do you allow the disservice of allowing others to move on.
I am also a human who, just like everyone, has lived my own life, seen my own horrors & wonders, forged my own fate & have strived every day to accept whatever challenge is dealt out. I could not possibly convey who I am in my entirety to you, nor would I expect you to understand it, were I to actually lay it all out. This is what it means to be alive; human. I will never know any of you entirely or understand what your life entails because it is not my own. But on a basic level we are all the same, having been through just about all the basic things one goes through here on Earth.
It doesn't really matter where I'm from or my likes or dislikes or what I've accomplished in my day. Everyone's from somewhere & all that. What matters is that I'm a human. That you're a human. We're all humans. We all have battles to fight, no matter how large or small. There are only ever two sides, so why divide one side down so far that we're all pitted against each other. Larger armies win wars. United is how causes make change. Let's try & remember that. Acceptance is not for one group alone. This is why the world is in the mess it's in currently.
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