Ringside Seat: We can learn something from Mississippi (SF New Mex)

OXFORD, Miss. — New Mexico resents comparisons to Mississippi, especially when rankings on education and child welfare lump the two states together. Both are often at the bottom of the country.

Though it’s lush and lovely, Mississippi can’t seem to escape its ugly past. Just last month, the federal government indicted a white fraternity member at Ole Miss for tying a noose around the campus statue of James Meredith, who in 1962 became the first black student admitted to the university here. Prosecutors called vandalism of Meredith’s statue an attempt to intimidate modern-day students.