We are one month out from Election Day, and one point down in the polls. Any amount you are able to contribute to our campaign (even $10) has an impact. This is the most important election of our lives, so I want to take a moment to talk about what’s at stake for Mississippi. [[link removed]]
There’s been some hard-fought battles in Mississippi. Growing up, I've been through some of those, and while they’re a reminder of how far we’ve come, they also motivate me to keep fighting to move our state forward in 2020. Now, I'm no Vernon Dahmer. I'm no John Lewis. But I do know Jim Crow.
I'm 66-years-old. I grew up at a time when my mama — her name was Willie Jean Espy — and I would go to the dress store in Yazoo City. She'd try on a dress, and the store employee would say to her, "Willie Jean, you've got to buy that dress if you try it on, because no white woman will come behind you and buy it." And I'd tell my mama, "Come on, Mama. Let's go, you don't need this dress."
I was ill as a child, and I would go to a doctor named Dr. Maria, who worked out of her home. I remember standing there watching Dr. Maria's white patients go through the front door, while my mother and I had to wait in the garage. I had asthma, and I just remember my asthma was getting worse as I was sitting in that garage, breathing in gasoline and turpentine fumes, waiting to see the doctor.
It just goes on and on and on. Later on, my twin sister and I integrated a public high school in 1968. We were two of just 17 Black students among 800 white students.
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Every day, I was called the n-word. Every day I had to fight or run from a fight. One day I was in chemistry class, and the teacher sprayed me with a fire extinguisher. The teacher!
So as you can imagine, like many young Black folks growing up in Mississippi back then, I always said, “Lord, if I ever get out of Mississippi, I'm never coming back."
But I did. I did come back, and I went on to become assistant secretary of state, assistant attorney general, the first congressman from Mississippi since Reconstruction, and a Cabinet secretary. And now, I'm running for the United States Senate.
Change in Mississippi has always been hard-won. But Mississippi has changed. Just look at how after all this time, we came together and changed our state flag by removing the hurtful confederate battle emblem this summer. In all the years I’ve lived in Mississippi, I never thought that would happen.
I believe the best is yet to come, but it won’t come easy. Our state is still last in education, last in health care, and last in economic opportunities. Mississippians are just so tired of it. It’s time to pass Medicaid expansion, provide better funding to our public schools, and create good-paying jobs and economic opportunities for working families.
We’ve got to fight for it. Because you don’t get what you don’t fight for.
So, if you too believe in the future of Mississippi and creating a more welcoming, prosperous state that every person and family can thrive in, chip in a contribution of $10 or more to my campaign for U.S. Senate today. We have a little over four weeks left to Get Out the Vote, make history, and win on November 3. [[link removed]]
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Thanks for listening and being by my side in this fight for a better, brighter Mississippi.
— Mike
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Paid for by Mike Espy for U.S. Senate
Mike Espy for Senate
P.O. Box 14072
Jackson, MS 39236
United States
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