Cleveland, MS

Cleveland has been my home for the past month, so I thought I'd share some photos from my neighborhood that I took on a recent stroll.

The low-lying afternoon sun illuminating the trees

A lovely little corner house

Another house nearby. On a devastating note: right next door, a house was flying two confederate flags with an image of an angry white cowboy. Beneath him were the words: "We could've had it so good." I was going to take a picture, but a black family was playing in the yard across the street.

On a related note, last week I viewed Morgan Freeman's documentary, "Prom Night in Mississippi," which told the story of East Tallahatchee High School's first integrated prom night.

Which was in 2008.

Freeman proposed the project and documented its progress in the film. The issue was largely framed as a generational issue, where the parents were the ones organizing the separate proms (which is why the practice was legal) and the students were the ones advocating integration. Freeman came to the students and told them that if they wanted an integrated prom, they would have to organize it themselves and he would foot the bill. Only one or two students resisted the effort, and several students displayed unwavering courage in confronting that opposition (for example, a mixed race couple resisted the disapproval of their parents; a female student knowingly faced a beating by her stepfather for welcoming her black friends to her house (which she ran because her father was in prison and her mother was unemployed)). The film was definitely eye-opening, but I wished it would have gone deeper into the complexities of race and complacency in both generations, rather than casting the issue as solely the fault of conservative parents.
The prettiest alley I've ever seen
The Episcopal church I've been attending. This one is integrated, although the black population is much smaller than the white. That said, some call Sunday the most segregated day of the week, as most churches are uniformly black or white (with the exception of the catholic church). Yet, this is not necessarily due to race or class. From what I gather, it is largely a remnant of the fact that 50 years ago, communities were drawn along racial lines (among other things), and those communities persist not because people still have the same prejudices, but because the relationships cultivated within those bounds endure.
A bastion of familiarity. Mississippi Grounds! This coffeeshop is new to Cleveland, and I have a sneaking suspicion that its opening had a lot to do with the TFA population.
All in all, I am falling in love with the South. The peoples' kindness seems to stem from true interest and care, rather than mere politeness. The passive-aggressiveness that can sometimes seep into "Minnesota Nice" is nowhere to be found down here.

And, oh, are the sunsets spectacular.