Same New Struggle: Building a Better Southern Strategy in Multiracial Mississippi

by Susan Eaton

The Black Caucus knows its history – many of our members lived that civil rights history – and we vowed to never sit still when human beings are being treated as less than human.—Mississippi State Rep. James Evans

Last year, a virus of draconian anti-immigrant legislation spread through the southeastern United States, finding eager hosts in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. But it met a surprising death upon reaching Mississippi. It was killed by a multiracial political coalition nurtured by diverse membership and led largely by African American legislators who years ago decided to take on the immigrants’ cause as their own.