ellen meacham blog from a hotel in reading, pa

I'm writing this blog from a hotel lobby in Reading, PA, after a great weekend with the fam. I feel a little weird typing this up as the place still reeks of Indian food from some reception fiesta held in a meeting room here earlier tonight. Anyway, here goes.

Ellen Meacham came and spoke to us on maybe Wednesday afternoon? I can't remember. Anyway, she's writing a book about Robert Kennedy's trip through the Mississippi Delta in 1967 (?). Overall, her talk was interesting and she's clearly done her research on the topic. She started her lecture with a little bit of background, creating a segway into the possible motives behind Kennedy's trip. I owe Patrick a thank you, as watching him teach earlier in the day equipped me with the knowledge to answer Meacham's first question about LBJ's social/economic policy known as the "Great Society". After establishing the historical context (the death of JFK, LBJ's "Great Society", the current role of government), Meacham began to detail just how Robert Kennedy found himself in the Mississippi Delta.

Appointed Attorney General under his brother, Kennedy had established himself as an active member of desegragation. He enforced integration and supported the Freedom Riders; he was involved with integration of Ole Miss. Before making his trip to Mississippi, Kennedy had already established himself as a vocal voice for change. In fact, he'd even argued with LBJ to get troops out of Vietnam, a war his deceased brother initiated. In 1967, Robert Kennedy would have another chance to voice the need for change in the slowly desegregrating South.  

Kennedy and Joe Clark (PA) along with the rest of the Senate had the opportunity to hear Marian Wright of the NAACP speak in a Senate hearing. Wright talked about the people of the Mississippi Delta and ow they were in "dire straights". Kennedy and Clark heard the urgency in her voice, and quickly planned an additional hearing and a trip to Mississippi. Fortunately for Kennedy and Clark, Mississippi did not pose a political risk. Neither Senator had any alliace with either of the Mississippi Senators, and neither Kennedy nor Clark needed anything that either MS Senator had to offer. In April of 1967, Kennedy listened to Wright again, only this time in Jackson, MS.

In an effort to help out the struggling South, Congress increased the minimum wage of farmers. Unfortunately for the South, this proved to be a "law of unintended consquences". The new minimum wage forced farmers to cut jobs. New subsidies required farmers to cut back on the acres farmed. By switching from Free Commodities to Food Stamps, real starvation and increased malnutrition became realities in the Deep South. Food Stamps required those in need to pay money; whereas the Free Commodities system did not. In the South, there were many people who didn't earn a living, and therefore, had no way to pay for Food Stamps. Enter Robert Kennedy.

While dining in Jackson after Wright's hearing, Kennedy looked around and asked those dining with him who he could trust. He needed someone to show him the truth, how the people of Mississippi were really doing. Kennedy took twelve national reporters with him to Greenville, a progressive part of the Delta at the time, to investigate and see for himself the horrors that Wright so vividly described. What Kennedy saw was gut-wrenching. He spent his time talking to the children, opening cabinets, and asking them what they'd eaten that day. When asked later about what he'd seen, Kennedy responded saying that he had never seen the poverty in the Delta anywhere but in third world countries. He met children and adults in filthy, tattered clothes who were starving, who hadn't eaten in days and still didn't know where their next meal would come from. But the question still remains, why did Robert Kennedy make his trip to the Delta?

According to Meacham and her research, Kennedy didn't go to the Delta to set an agenda. He didn't go to make himself look better to the media or his colleagues. He went as an activist. He went to see for himself exactly what Marian Wright meant when she said that the people of the Mississippi Delta were in "dire straights". If seeing is believing, then Robert Kennedy certainly believed and understood the depth and meaning of Wright's words.