Remembering Mississippi's William Raspberry
by Brother Rogers
On Tuesday Mississippi lost one its heroes when William Raspberry died. Mr. Raspberry was a Pulitzer-winning newspaper columnist for The Washington Post for nearly 40 years before he retired in 2005. He was one of the most renowned black journalists in America and considered a trailblazer in the field.
Mr. Raspberry was born and raised in Okolona, Mississippi – an experience that made him a respected opinion writer about social issues, especially race and poverty. He certainly shaped my views. I pulled out an old file folder (for those under 40, I’m talking about a manila folder with paper, not a computer file) containing many of his columns I had saved over the years.
While Mr. Raspberry was definitely a liberal, he was mostly a straight-talker, which is what I liked most about his writing. He was just as likely to chide civil rights leaders for their failure to improve public education as he was to take conservatives to task for not recognizing continuing racism.
Raised as one of five children by two strong parents who were respected school teachers in Okolona, Mr. Raspberry believed not only in government action on social issues, but also in the importance of family and personal responsibility.
He once said, “I grew up in apartheid, and yet it never induced my parents to teach us anything else than we were responsible for our own behavior, for our own minds.”
Mr. Raspberry viewed the problems of black Americans as both external and internal. He condemned both racism and destructive behavior. In one column from 1998, he wrote, “There are three things black parents must persuade their teenagers to do (before having their first child): Get their high school diploma, reach at least age 20, and get married.”
He also wrote, “It is no exoneration of racism, political indifference or economic unfairness to teach our young people what many of us know from experience: that what we choose to do matters more than what is done to us.”
In a 1997 column, Mr. Raspberry had some advice that rings true today. “Most of the headway we make in our public controversies comes from the ability of each side to acknowledge that the other side just maybe has a point. Without some measure of civility and restraint, such acknowledgements don’t get made.”
He continued, “The simple refusal to acknowledge (even to ourselves) that our side has no corner on truth or decency is one of the lurking dangers of our age. It lies behind much of the political posturing that makes it nearly impossible to do even what all of us know needs to be done.”
I have often told my out-of-state friends that they can choose any profession, but they had better hope they are not competing with a Mississippian. Mississippians rise to the top. William Raspberry rose to the top of his profession and made all of us native Mississippians proud. May the wise counsel he left behind continue to guide us into the future.
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and works at the Stennis Center for Public Service.
Mr. Raspberry was born and raised in Okolona, Mississippi – an experience that made him a respected opinion writer about social issues, especially race and poverty. He certainly shaped my views. I pulled out an old file folder (for those under 40, I’m talking about a manila folder with paper, not a computer file) containing many of his columns I had saved over the years.
While Mr. Raspberry was definitely a liberal, he was mostly a straight-talker, which is what I liked most about his writing. He was just as likely to chide civil rights leaders for their failure to improve public education as he was to take conservatives to task for not recognizing continuing racism.
Raised as one of five children by two strong parents who were respected school teachers in Okolona, Mr. Raspberry believed not only in government action on social issues, but also in the importance of family and personal responsibility.
He once said, “I grew up in apartheid, and yet it never induced my parents to teach us anything else than we were responsible for our own behavior, for our own minds.”
Mr. Raspberry viewed the problems of black Americans as both external and internal. He condemned both racism and destructive behavior. In one column from 1998, he wrote, “There are three things black parents must persuade their teenagers to do (before having their first child): Get their high school diploma, reach at least age 20, and get married.”
He also wrote, “It is no exoneration of racism, political indifference or economic unfairness to teach our young people what many of us know from experience: that what we choose to do matters more than what is done to us.”
In a 1997 column, Mr. Raspberry had some advice that rings true today. “Most of the headway we make in our public controversies comes from the ability of each side to acknowledge that the other side just maybe has a point. Without some measure of civility and restraint, such acknowledgements don’t get made.”
He continued, “The simple refusal to acknowledge (even to ourselves) that our side has no corner on truth or decency is one of the lurking dangers of our age. It lies behind much of the political posturing that makes it nearly impossible to do even what all of us know needs to be done.”
I have often told my out-of-state friends that they can choose any profession, but they had better hope they are not competing with a Mississippian. Mississippians rise to the top. William Raspberry rose to the top of his profession and made all of us native Mississippians proud. May the wise counsel he left behind continue to guide us into the future.
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and works at the Stennis Center for Public Service.