Ole Miss ironic venue for Obama-McCain debate

When the first presidential debate of the 2008 general election campaign was being promoted, I must say that what struck me most under the circumstances was the location of the event.

The University of Mississippi, or as it is more affectionately known, “Ole Miss,” had been selected last November as the site of the debate, long before Senator Barack Obama had won his party’s nomination.

The idea of the first African-American candidate nominated by a major party having his first debate on that campus seemed ironic to me, given the history of that institution and my own experiences there.

My personal knowledge of that university come from having spent a semester there as a college student in the late 1960s. My father’s family is from Mississippi, and I spent many summers during my childhood in that state. So, deciding to attend college in Oxford, Miss., wasn’t that much of a surprise to my family.

The real surprise was my underlying motive for my decision. I wanted to experience that particular town. It was the place from which my favorite American author, William Faulkner, wrote his famous novels and short stories. And as an aspiring writer, I wanted to experience that same environment, or at least I thought I did at the time.

But Oxford was in reality more famous for the deadly 1962 riot brought on by the admission of the first black student, James Meredith, to the university. The ensuing race riots required that federal troops be sent in by President Kennedy, and resulted in the deaths of two people and the injury to many more. I remember seeing this event unfold on the evening news and wondering what caused so much hatred.

By the late ‘60s, when I was attending there, African-American students were enrolled; in fact two black women were in residence on my floor, in my dorm — but only for a short while.

The majority of students were not pleased by the presence of those students, and there were incidents. First the initials “KKK” were scrawled across their door, and later a fire was started by someone who placed clothing on the stove top located in the kitchen area at the end of the hall and turned on the flame. The girls were moved out the next day, and no one ever mentioned anything about what had happened.

Having been raised in Southern California since the age of five, I was horrified by all of this and left at the end of the semester.

So during the pre-debate coverage done by MSNBC when commentator Chris Matthews, while surrounded by students and local residents of Oxford, exclaimed how excited he was about being in “Faulkner country” for the first time, but didn’t get any cheers from the audience, Matthews concluded that “Faulkner must not be so popular down here.” He was right.

Most of Faulkner’s novels and short stories were set in the imaginary county of Yoknapatawpha, and in the fictional town of Jefferson, the blueprint of which were take directly from the real Oxford, Mississippi.

His characters were created from his family, friends and acquaintances living in a complex world, burdened by the past of the Old South, where he explored by exposing relationships between blacks and whites at the time.

Needless to say he was not appreciated by those living in his hometown or his state for the honest way he dealt with the legacy of slavery and racism that was the Old South, by allowing the world to get a glimpse of that reality.

Today it is said that Ole Miss has changed. The “Rebel Flag” is no longer waved during football games, although “Dixie” is still played.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 14 percent of the student body this year is black. But social segregation still exists in that sororities and fraternities have yet to be integrated.

It is notable that William Faulkner died in Oxford in 1962, the same year that James Meredith was admitted to Ole Miss.

I wonder what Faulkner’s reaction would have been to Barack Obama’s appearance at the debate right there in his hometown. I expect he would have been pleased by it all. He may have even written a story about it.

Faulkner might have focused in on why, given the legacy of the Bush administration and the train wreck that the McCain-Palin ticket has become, Barack Obama is still only 5 to 8 points ahead in the polls right now. He might have speculated that if Obama were white, he would be at least 20 points ahead. Imagine that.

ABOUT THE WRITER
Carol Jensen is a long-time Barstow resident, graduating from Kennedy High School and Barstow College, where she was an English instructor for many years. Much of her time now is spent writing political and social commentary. She may be contacted at cajensen49@msn.com.