'Go, Mississippi': State Could Ditch Song with Racist Roots
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is on the verge of scuttling a state song with racist roots, two years after it retired a Confederate-themed state flag.
The current song, “Go, Mississippi," takes its tune from a 1959 campaign jingle of Democratic Gov. Ross Barnett. “Roll With Ross" included the lyrics, “For segregation, 100%. He's not a moderate, like some of the gents."
Barnett unsuccessfully resisted integration of the University of Mississippi in 1962, and legislators that year adopted a state song setting new words to his campaign ditty: “Go, Mississippi, keep rolling along. Go, Mississippi, you cannot go wrong.”
Some legislators have quietly sought a new song in recent years, saying the Barnett connection is an embarrassing relic of the bad old days.
Read more: https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2022/apr/04/go-mississippi-state-could-ditch-song-racist-roots/
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