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Time For A New Southern Strategy

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Cody Lyon
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There is no place that could benefit more from a confident progressive agenda than the Magnolia State, Mississippi, a state that year after year finds itself on the receiving end of one bad statistic after another.

 

For example, according to the American Community Survey, 21.6 percent of Mississippi citizens live below the poverty line.

 

A July 2007 “Washington Post” article titled “Poverty Tightens Grip on Mississippi Delta” said Fifty-Five percent of households in the tiny community of Coahoma Mississippi earn less than $15,000 a year.

 

The “Washington Post” article spoke to misperceptions many Americans have about rural areas saying “a lot of people believe it’s got to be cheap to live there (in rural areas) and food has got to be more available. But cheap is relative to income. Your ability to get yourself around is limited. There is no public transportation.”

 

Adding to the negative news, a June 2007 journal study titled “Preventing Chronic Disease” by Leonard Jack Jr. PhD said 51 percent of rural residents experience poverty levels that are hard for most Americans to imagine. That same report noted that from 2000 to 2003, the number of poor people in Mississippi increased by 38,000 to 456,000.

 

The 2004 “Kids Count Data Book” found that among the 50 states, Mississippi had the second highest level of children living in poverty with 13 percent living in “extreme” poverty compared to 8 percent nationally.

 

That sort of poverty translates into a sad report card on the general health of many of the state’s citizens.

 

In Morgan Quinto’s 2004 State Health Care Rankings that among other factors, looks at access to health care providers, affordable health care services and general health of a state’s population, Mississippi ranked last among all the states.

 

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Cody Lyon is an Alabama native who is a freelance writer in New York City.
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