The Front Row

An essay by Kiese Laymon | October 6, 2020

I hate italics.

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

I’m writing a series of short essays for Mississippi Today. The series is focused on three deeply southern twentieth century photographs. I’d love to use another quote from Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith as a refrain for this first essay. I’d love to find a refrain focused on Cindy Hyde-Smith’s restless approach to poverty, her innovative ideas for equitable education, her commitment to eradicating state sanctioned premature death in Mississippi. But those quotes do not exist.

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

What does exist, in all its grossness, is Cindy Hyde-Smith’s lack of home-training and her callous commitment to keep Mississippi contemptible on its promise to our children. Cindy Hyde-Smith is hoping that the worst of Mississippi punishes Mike Espy for daring to become the first Black senator in the Blackest state in the union in 150 years.

Mike Espy and I are not politically aligned. But Mike Espy has far more political courage than I will ever have. I talk it. I teach it. I write it. I make Mississippi art. As much as I love our state, I do not, as a Black man born and raised in Mississippi, have the courage nor the desire to become the first Black senator in Mississippi in over 150 years. There are many reasons for this cowardice. But the primary reason is that I long to outlive my mama and grandmama. This is far harder than it should be when we live and love in a state where, in 2018, nearly eight of ten white voters supported a senatorial candidate who said, in front of cameras, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”

Despite what the rest of the nation believes about Mississippi, we know the range of our abundance. Cindy Hyde-Smith could have longed to be on the front of row of The Sonic Boom of the South, the front row of a reading by our Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners, the front row of an exhibit at one of our prodigious museums, or the front row of a breathtaking play at our underfunded public schools. Cindy Hyde Smith, unprovoked, chose a public hanging in Mississippi as the site of her fandom. And, as quiet as it’s kept, Cindy Hyde-Smith won because she chose a public hanging in Mississippi as the site of her fandom.

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to interview Moss Point, Mississippi, native Professor Eddie Glaude about his masterful exploration of James Baldwin’s life and work, Begin Again. To prepare for the interview, I went back and read the May 17, 1963, Time Magazine issue with Baldwin on the cover. In the left corner, right above the words “Birmingham and Beyond: The Negro’s Push for Equality” are the peculiarly spaced words “THIRTY CENTS.”

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

On page 24, near the top of a caption that reads, “Birmingham Cops Manhandling Negro Woman,” there is a photograph of two white officers watching three white officers assault a Black woman on the ground. One officer is grabbing the woman’s arm. One officer is restraining the woman’s legs. One officer has his knee in the woman’s neck. There is a Coca Cola poster above a cigarette sign on the door behind her. The woman is fighting from her back. She is fighting the officer with a knee on her neck. She is fighting the officer holding her arms. She is fighting the officer restraining her legs. She is fighting the officers watching. She is fighting all the folks who long to be on the front row of this orchestrated brutality. She is fighting all the folks scared to intervene.

Five white men. Plenty of politicians. Millions of eventual onlookers. One deeply southern Black woman, fighting for her life, and our dignity. This happened in Alabama. This happened in Mississippi. Fifty-seven years later, this happens in America.

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

At the beginning of the interview with Eddie, I asked him why James Baldwin, a renowned Harlemite who, at that point, had never stepped foot in Mississippi or the deep south, could say, “I was going to be a writer, God, Satan and Mississippi notwithstanding.”

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

At the end of the interview, I asked Eddie if there is anything Mississippi specifically needs to reach its promise that the United States does not need. Eddie took my question seriously, or he acted as if he was taking my question seriously as all courageous Mississippians with good home-training do. Through glassy eyes and informed sincerity, Eddie said, “If Mississippi figures this out, we’ve solved the riddle of the Sphinx. That’s it. From the depth of our poverty to the brilliance of our culture, if we respond, we unlock it all.”

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

As much as Mississippi has been punished and locked by the brutalizing politics of Bilbo, Barnett, Stennis, Reeves and Cindy Hyde-Smith, it has been unlocked by the direct action of Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, SNCC, Mamie Till, Emmett Till, and this current group of young Mississippians who will never stop fighting for Mississippi, and the nation’s, promise.

Like Eddie, these locksmiths know we can unlock it all here in Mississippi. They know we can be honest about what we’re unlocking. They know we must tell the truth about who benefits from Mississippi being, and being seen as, an impenetrable island of inequity. Who bruises here? Who blushes while eating the bruised? Who, and what, should actually be grateful in Mississippi?

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

In a piece called, “Since 1619,” my mother’s mentor, Margaret Walker Alexander, asked the question, “How long have I been living in hell for heaven?” Margaret Walker Alexander taught us that artistry without rigorous introspection and radical empathy is empty. I am trying to put myself in Cindy Hyde-Smith’s place. This is hard because while Black men and boys were the vast majority of folks publicly hanged in Mississippi, Black women were also publicly hanged. White men were publicly hanged. Indigenous men were publicly hanged. Yet there is no record of a white woman being publicly hanged in the state of Mississippi.

Still, if he invited me to a public hanging in Mississippi, what would I do? I know I would not be on the front row. I would likely be one of the Black Mississippians hanged, possibly for writing what should not be written, possibly for walking where I should not be walking. Mike Espy would be hanged, too, for daring to politically unlock Mississippi in the face of concerted brutality. Piss would dribble down the front of our thighs, behind our knees, off the tips of our toes into abundant Choctaw or Chickasaw land that the worst of Mississippi disfigures and depletes. Before the platform on which we were standing was taken away, I want to believe we could make eye contact with Cindy Hyde-Smith and all those loving Mississippians longing to be on the front row of a public hanging. If slack faced terror had not taken our tongues — and even if slack faced terror had — I would like to believe Mike Espy and I would mouth, “You will not win. You do not have to be this way. Mississippi is the key. We.” 

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

Whether standing, marching, floating from trees, or fighting from our backs, I hope we continue the courageous work of unlocking Mississippi’s abundance today, tomorrow, forever. If we cease to unlock Mississippi’s abundance, I hope we have enough home-training to be honest about our unrivaled commitment to the death, destruction, and dishonor of our children.

How long have we been living in hell for heaven?

We will win. It is true. We will win. Eddie is right. Mississippi is the key. Margaret Walker is right. We must never cease to imagine. We must never forget. We must accept that we can always choose the most courageous, the most equitable, the most graceful, the absolute best of Mississippi. We can stop choosing torture, death, anguish, the spectacle of real anti-black violence when Mississippi looks us in the face. We have a choice. We’ve had a choice. We cannot love Mississippi and accept Cindy Hyde-Smith as a senator of the Blackest, most abundant state in this nation. We do not have to be this way.

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.
If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.

I hate italics.

Editor’s Note: We are sharing our platform with Mississippians to write essays about race. This essay is the first in the series. Click here to read our extended editor’s note about this decision.

About the Author: Kiese Laymon, a Black Southern writer born and raised in Jackson, is the Hubert McAlexander Chair of English at the University of Mississippi. He is the author of three books, including the reissued How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America which will be released in November. 

Want to hear more from Kiese? Join our exclusive event:

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U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, right, and Democrat Mike Espy shake hands following their televised Senate debate on Nov. 20, 2018. Hyde-Smith has not accepted debate invitations in 2020. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is one of just nine incumbent U.S. senators running for re-election this year who has not agreed to debate their opponent.

Hyde-Smith, who faces a challenge from former Democratic congressman Mike Espy, is among 31 incumbents running for re-election in 2020. Espy has accepted two debate invitations and has publicly chastised Hyde-Smith for not doing the same.

Hyde-Smith’s campaign has said she has been busy doing her job as senator and hasn’t had time to schedule a debate and said Espy is trying to make political hay.

The Hyde-Smith campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

“Corrupt Mike Espy is desperate to attract any attention he can get for his failing campaign,” the Hyde-Smith campaign said to WJTV in September. “He was too corrupt for the Clinton Administration and is too liberal for Mississippi. Voters in our state know we have a bright future with Cindy Hyde-Smith and have no desire to revisit Mike Espy’s past scandals.”

Mississippi politicos have surmised that Hyde-Smith — prone to gaffes on the public campaign trail — believes she has a substantial lead in the race, can ride President Donald Trump’s coattails with voters, and is otherwise laying low and trying not to give Espy’s campaign any platform.

Most of the eight other incumbent U.S. senators who have not agreed to debate face little-known, little-financed, or third party challengers. For example, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas faces just one challenger, a libertarian. Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island faces a Republican challenger whose own state party rescinded its endorsement after reports emerged that he allegedly had been involved in a domestic disturbance in 2019.

In 2018, Hyde-Smith and Espy debated when they were vying in a special election to replace longtime Sen. Thad Cochran, who resigned for health reasons. Hyde-Smith was appointed by then-Gov. Phil Bryant to replace Cochran in the interim before the special election. She is now vying for a full six-year term, and Espy, who captured more than 46% of the vote in 2018, is challenging her again.

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Gov. Tate Reeves

A Hinds County Chancery Court judge has ruled that Gov. Tate Reeves’ partial veto of a COVID-19 relief bill was unconstitutional, siding with House Speaker Philip Gunn and Speaker Pro Tem Jason White, who sued over the veto in August.

Reeves said he vetoed “questionable spending” earmarks by the Legislature in the bill and said it was an attempt to “funnel money to friends with zero accountability,” and a power grab by the Legislature. Gunn said Reeves was overstepping his constitutional authority and that the Legislature has authority over spending, not the governor.

Reeves said the case will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

“One Hinds County judge was never going to decide this,” said Parker Briden, a spokesman for Reeves. “The Supreme Court will have to decide the central question of whether spending millions on pet projects is an appropriation or a ‘condition’ on an appropriation.

“The Constitution provides a check on their (legislators’) ability to dole out money to special projects. We hope the Supreme Court will recognize that check is necessary, guaranteed by the Constitution, and should not be eliminated. We continue to maintain that someone has to hold the speaker and his crew accountable if they attempt to wrongly funnel money to favored entities.”

Hinds County Chancellor Tiffany Grove in her decision filed Monday said, “… according to the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 and almost years of case law interpreting our state Constitution, Gov. Reeves’ partial veto was unconstitutional.”

Reeves vetoed $2 million lawmakers directed to the shuttered North Oak Regional Medical Center in Senatobia and $6 million earmarked to the MAGnet Community Health Center to study and try to address health disparities, such as combating the high impact COVID-19 has inflicted on the African American community. The spending was part of a $130 million bill directing Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act money to Mississippi health care and hospitals.

Grove said based on other Supreme Court decisions, the partial veto authority granted to the governor by the state Constitution only could be used to veto a a total sum of money within an appropriations bill and not the conditions on how the money was being spent.

The Legislature appropriated $91.9 million to the Mississippi Department of Health to provide funds to hospitals and other health care providers for their COVID-19 relief efforts. Reeves, the chancellor concluded, did not have the authority to veto the appropriation to some of those health care providers while concurring in providing funds to the other health care providers. She said the governor was trying to veto the conditions of how the money was being spent and multiple past rulings made it clear the governor could not veto conditions of appropriations bills.

Grove’s ruling said the bill should now be considered passed in its entirety, though it is not clear whether the health care providers that were the subjects of the partial vetoes would have time to spend the money appropriated by the Legislature. Federal law mandates states spend the money they received from the CARES Act by the end of December. And it is not clear whether the spending authority would be postponed by an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Senate Public Health Chair Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said the legislation that was approved in July had a provision that allowed the Tate County hospital in Senatobia to receive the funds only if there was an agreement before Oct 1 to reopen the hospital. Bryan said the fact that Reeves vetoed the appropriation to the Tate County hospital might have made it more difficult to craft that agreement to reopen the hospital.

Bryan said the veto was “a 100% spiteful action” by the governor.

Gunn and other members of the House leadership could not be immediately reached for comment.

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Sergio Garcia holds the Sanderson Farms Championship trophy after winning the PGA golf tournament in Jackson, Miss., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

With the sun beginning to set over the clubhouse at Country Club of Jackson Sunday, Sergio Garcia closed his eyes. You should know he did not close his eyes to make a wish. No, he closed his eyes to make a 30-inch putt — a million dollar putt, a winning putt on the 72^nd hole of the 53^rd Sanderson Farms Championship.

And, with eyes closed, he made it. Garcia, a 40-year-old Spaniard, thus becomes the most accomplished winner in the history of Mississippi’s tournament on the PGA Tour. This wasn’t a first-time winner. This wasn’t somebody you wouldn’t recognize without reading his name on his golf bag. This was Sergio Garcia, El Nino himself, winner of The Masters in 2017, winner of 35 other professional tournaments around the globe and many times a Ryder Cup hero.

Widely considered one of the best ball strikers in the game, Garcia regularly booms his seemingly sky-high drives 330 yards or more. He is also one of golf’s most accurate iron players. No telling how many major tournaments he would have won by now if not for his Achilles’ heel, his putter.

Rick Cleveland

Garcia has tried to putt conventionally. He has tried to putt cross-handed. He has tried looking at the hole instead of the ball. He has tried the claw grip and just about every make and model of putter that exists.

Lately — and here at his first visit to Jackson — he has simply closed his eyes. He’d take a few practice strokes with his eyes open. He’d then take his stance, stare at the hole and presumably his putting line a couple seconds, then close his eyes and make his stroke. He did it on long putts and short putts.

“Every putt,” he said.

As soon as putter struck ball, he opened his eyes — and often watched the ball go into the cup. It went there often enough for him to close with a final round of five-under-par 67, and a 72 hole total of 19-under 269, one shot better than 2015 Sanderson Farms winner Peter Malnati, who closed with a spectacular 63, his best career round.

This is not to say Garcia had a spectacular day or tournament on the pristine greens at CCJ. He missed some make-able putts, three-putted once, missed some short ones. This is to say that Garcia doesn’t have to putt all that well to win because he hits the ball so phenomenally well.

“When I’m feeling it, I don’t feel like I have to putt well to have a chance to win,” Garcia said. “I feel like I can win with an average or just above average putting week.”

To see it is to believe it. You should have seen the soaring 340-yard drive he hit over tall pine and oak trees to the center of the fairway on the par-4 sixth hole. You should have seen the the 260-yard 5-wood second shot he hit to within three feet of the hole on the par-5 14^th hole. That shot resulted in an eagle-3 that brought him even with Malnati.

With pars on the next three holes, Garcia came to the 18^th hole, a monster of a 486-yard par-4. That’s when El Nino showed ball-striking at its finest. First he clubbed a 314-yard drive against the breeze to the left side of the fairway. Then, he hit a 172-yard 8-iron that looked for all the world like it might land in the hole. It almost did, leaving him a 30-inch putt for the victory.

On a normal Sunday in the fourth round of a PGA Tournament, such a shot would have brought roars from the gallery. Not this time. There was a smattering of applause from volunteers for what was surely one of the greatest pressure shots in the history of the tournament.

Because of COVID-19, there were no luxury suites surrounding the 18^th green, no bleachers, no fans — this despite perfect weather for four straight days. And that seemed such a shame for a tournament that has has battled weather of all types: storms, floods, hurricanes, tornados, stifling heat and you name it for much of its history. Here Sunday, we had the best players in tournament history playing in the best weather in tournament history, and fans could not watch.

Garcia, better than most, understands why such precautions were taken. Afterward, his eyes moistening, Garcia dedicated the victory — his first in more than a year — to his father and his family.

“Unfortunately, my father has a lot of family in Madrid,” Garcia said. “He is one of nine siblings, and unfortunately we lost two of his brothers to COVID, one at the beginning, Uncle Paco, and one just last Saturday, Uncle Angel.

“You know, it’s sad, it’s sad. And I know a lot of families have lost a lot more people, but you never want to lose anyone like that, and I wanted to win this for them.”

And that he did. Now, he’s just a month away from The Masters. We’d be fools to count him out.

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