Geet

As a former Republican voter, brought up in a conservative Christian, homeschooled environment and is now agnostic and left leaning, I’ve had to reeducate myself on so much related to history, authority, and personal freedom. Becoming more educated has given me another way to think about how my upbringing here in Mississippi has shaped what we’ve accept as status quo, and has helped me to question it. My vote in Mississippi relates to race, poverty, and corruption. I really don’t think Mississippi can move forward without being more honest about all of it. We need to start taking racial inequality seriously, hold accountable the public officials who are supposed to serve people instead of line their pockets, and we need to stop treating poverty like it’s personal failing. Mississippi is so often looked down upon. Low education, poor health, high infant death, high poverty rates, obesity and at the same time serious food insecurity. People have always looked down on Mississippi. But I care about Mississippi and the people who live here, and we deserve better. I mean, my goodness! We are a hospitality state! I have seen people show up for a neighbor, bring food to the grieving, and give what they can even though they don’t have much themselves. I want our government to reflect it a little bit more of that goodness. I want the care that we show a neighbor in a crisis to extend to people of a different race, different religion, different income, and different way of life. I don’t think we should have to agree with someone’s beliefs to care whether they have enough to eat, whether they have access to health care, or a safe place to raise their children. And I don’t want Mississippians to have to rely on individual generosity to make up for what our institutions are failing to appropriately provide to us. Bringing someone a meal is great, but why are they going hungry in the first place? Helping a sick neighbor is great, but why is it that they can’t afford to see a doctor? I think we can value personal responsibility and still expect responsibility from the people we elected to serve us. This is why I voted blue. Because I felt those candidates are closer to the kind of Mississippi that I want to live in and continue to build. A Mississippi that takes racial inequality seriously, a Mississippi that respects personal freedom, a Mississippi that invests in people and holds its leaders accountable. Mississippians are worth it.