A Good Katrina story

[Crapshoot]

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi (AP) -- Two Roman Catholic elementary schools have served Pascagoula for nearly 100 years -- one opened to teach the children and grandchildren of freed slaves, the other across town educating mostly white children.

But Hurricane Katrina's winds changed the incidental segregation when St. Peter the Apostle, built in 1907 as an African-American mission, was destroyed. Now blown together, 310 elementary students are integrated at Resurrection Catholic School's campus.

"If there is somebody who is now upset because there are more black children, we don't want them," said Laura Murray, a mother at Resurrection, as she helped prepare the water-damaged building for classes. "I don't think there is anybody like that. This community doesn't believe like that."

Given St. Peter's dire situation, school officials made the quick decision to get the students back on a regular schedule as soon as possible. All would attend Resurrection.

"It's a triumph for the biracial South," said Charles Reagan Wilson, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Many parents and teachers want the integrated school to remain, but Sister Bernadette McNamara, principal at St. Peter, worries about her students retaining their culture and identity. She remains at St. Peter, where all that's left usable are three classrooms, where the school's youngest children arrive wearing neat plaid uniforms. They stand when she enters each room and in unison say, "Good morning. God bless you." Putting her hand to her forehead and nodding, she said, "It's always the black children who lose their school. I miss my school. I miss my children."

Father Mike Kelleher, pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which is affiliated with Resurrection, moved to Mississippi from Ireland 40 years ago during the civil rights movement. He talks of the storm as a catalyst for the strong feelings of acceptance that already brewed in the community.

"We do have a terrible name outside the Deep South," Kelleher said of Mississippi. "The hurricane certainly gave new impetus to us working together as an integrated community." The united school is Kelleher's dream come true. "I would hope that it's going to be permanent," he said.

The Diocese of Biloxi has the final say, and officials are now sorting out insurance policies, what school buildings will stay and which will go. After the storm, Resurrection was still standing, but flooded 52 inches with $1 million in damage. Classes resumed with donated cafeteria tables and chairs instead of desks. Even with their own homes lost, parents from both schools went to Resurrection to clean first and make the school functional.

But the sight of St. Peter and what the Sisters of the Holy Spirit have ahead of them is jarring. The roof collapsed, leaving classrooms piles of bricks and books visible from the street. The water-damaged gymnasium floor is caked with mold. Pink insulation covers the cafeteria.

"The building is condemned," Sister Bernadette said during a walk through. "Everything is going to be knocked down." Still, she sees some hope for her students. At least they will be in school, and referring to the blending of races in the new Resurrection student body, she said, "It's a blessing. In a way it's wonderful."
Parents say race 'not an issue'

Soon after Katrina, the area's parochial students were scattered at schools across the region. Marian Swint, from nearby Grand Bay, Ala., has sons at Resurrection in fourth and sixth grade and said she watched with pride as they played with the children from St. Peter.

"If someone was playing football, they all were playing football," Swint said. "It wasn't the whites over here and the blacks over there. The kids don't know the difference. It's just another kid to play with."
story.third.graders.ap.jpg
Glendon Smith, right, jokes with Wil Brown at Resurrection Catholic Elementary School. Smith transferred to the school after Hurricane Katrina.

LaTaya Cobb, a St. Peter mother, voiced similar feelings when she dropped her third-grader, Troy Cobb Jr., at Resurrection for his first day. He ran with the other children, and teachers directed him to the third grade line.

"Race is not an issue for me," Cobb said, smiling and waving at her son. "I like for my kids to communicate with other groups."

Another St. Peter mother, Brenda Smith, said her heart is broken at the sight of her son's old school, but she believes Resurrection will be good for him.

"I thought it would be great to have them interact and play together instead of all black children at one school and all white children at one school," Smith said.

H. Todd Coulter, vice president of the St. Peter parish council, said if parishioners had a choice, they would like to see the school rebuilt, but that may not be realistic. Meanwhile, he said, integrating the children makes financial as well as cultural sense.

"There may never have been a Black History Month program at Resurrection school," Coulter said. "Now there will be one. It won't be Black History Month, it will be black history day by day. Their presence will be a great gift to the overall community."

The mostly one-race makeup of the two parochial schools reflected their surrounding neighborhoods, not school policy. Public schools in Mississippi have been integrated since the 1960s or 1970s as have most parochial schools.

In the Pascagoula School District, 48 percent of the students are white and the remaining 52 percent are a mix of black, Hispanic and Asian. Of the 310 students now attending Resurrection, Kelleher says 60 are black and 25 are Hispanic. With schools acting as the constant battleground of desegregation, Wilson sees Pascagoula's embrace of the integrated schools as evidence that locals are "wanting an occasion to get away from separations that too often exist in schools in the South."

Good to see.

[Karlifornia]

Sometimes, I struggle to accept the fact that Mississippi is part of the same country that I live in. How can people be so behind the times? GAH!

[GoldenEagle]

Originally Posted by RadioFriendlyUnitShifter

Sometimes, I struggle to accept the fact that Mississippi is part of the same country that I live in. How can people be so behind the times? GAH!

What the hell are you talking about? Have you ever even been to Mississippi? Get your head out your ass.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle

What the hell are you talking about? Have you ever even been to Mississippi? Get your head out your ass.

Nicely put.

[sterlingice]

Good stuff

SI

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle

What the hell are you talking about? Have you ever even been to Mississippi? Get your head out your ass.

Have you ever been to Mississippi? Southaven is practically Tennessee.

[Karlifornia]

Yes I have been to Mississippi. I stand behind my statement.

[Karlifornia]

Dola.

Trent Lott. Need I say more?

[GoldenEagle]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Have you ever been to Mississippi? Southaven is practically Tennessee.

I am in the Delta now, my friend.

[GoldenEagle]

Originally Posted by RadioFriendlyUnitShifter

Yes I have been to Mississippi. I stand behind my statement.

You’re fucking ignorant man. I never get involved in these Internet “flame wars” but I just can not help myself. What part of Mississippi have you ever stepped foot in? You need to quit living in the 60’s and realize that things change. You are just as ignorant as the people who wish it was still the same.

[Karlifornia]

You're entitled to your opinion just like I am.