{"id":32976,"date":"2016-04-11T10:45:56","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T15:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=32976"},"modified":"2016-04-11T10:47:23","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T15:47:23","slug":"local-correspondence-95-writers-from-mississippi-speak-out-against-house-bill-1523","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/local-correspondence-95-writers-from-mississippi-speak-out-against-house-bill-1523\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Correspondence: 95 Writers from Mississippi Speak Out Against House Bill 1523"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mississippi has a thousand histories, but these can be boiled down to two strains: our reactionary side,\u00a0which has nourished intolerance and degradation and brutality, which has looked at difference as a\u00a0threat, which has circled tightly around the familiar and the monolithic; and our humane side, which\u00a0treasures compassion and charity and a wide net of kinship, which is fascinated by character and story,\u00a0which is deeply involved in the daily business of our neighbors. This core kindness, the embracing of\u00a0wildness and weirdness, is what has nurtured the great literature that has come from our state. What\u00a0literature teaches us is empathy. It reminds us to reach out a hand to our neighbors\u2014even if they look\u00a0different from us, love different from us\u2014and say, \u201cWhy, I recognize you; you’re a human, just like\u00a0me, sprung from the same messy place, bound on the same hard road.\u201d Mississippi authors have\u00a0written through pain, and they have written out of disappointment, but they have also written from\u00a0wonder, and pride, and a fierce desire to see the politics of this state live up to its citizens. It is deeply\u00a0disturbing to so many of us to see the rhetoric of hate, thinly veiled, once more poison our political\u00a0discourse. But Governor Phil Bryant and the Mississippi legislators who voted for this bill are not the\u00a0sole voices of our state. There have always been people here battling injustice. That\u2019s the version of\u00a0Mississippi we believe in, and that\u2019s the Mississippi we won\u2019t stop fighting for.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 95 undersigned writers from Mississippi stand opposed to any violation of civil rights, including\u00a0discrimination against LGBTQ citizens, and call for the repeal of the recently enacted House Bill 1523.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis Anderson<\/span>
\nAce Atkins<\/span>
\nHoward Bahr<\/span>
\nAngela Ball<\/span>
\nMarion Barnwell<\/span>
\nSteven Barthelme<\/span>
\nMatt Bondurant<\/span>
\nWilliam Boyle<\/span>
\nCarolyn Brown<\/span>
\nKelly Butler<\/span>
\nJimmy Cajoleas<\/span>
\nSarah C. Campbell<\/span>
\nJulie Cantrell<\/span>
\nHodding Carter III<\/span>
\nHodding Carter IV<\/span>
\nMaari Carter<\/span>
\nJim Dees<\/span>
\nJames Dickson<\/span>
\nKendall Dunkelberg<\/span>
\nWilliam Dunlap<\/span>
\nLee Durkee<\/span>
\nMargaret Eby<\/span>
\nJohn T. Edge<\/span>
\nLiz Egan<\/span>
\nKelly Ellis<\/span>
\nW. Ralph Eubanks<\/span>
\nBeth Ann Fennelly<\/span>
\nEllen Ann Fentress<\/span>
\nWilliam R. Ferris<\/span>
\nAnn Fisher-Wirth<\/span>
\nTom Franklin<\/span>
\nMartha Hall Foose<\/span>
\nChristopher Garland<\/span>
\nMelissa Ginsburg<\/span>
\nJohn Grisham<\/span>
\nMatthew Guinn<\/span>
\nMinrose Gwin<\/span>
\nBecky Hagenston<\/span>
\nDerrick Harriell<\/span>
\nBrooks Haxton<\/span>
\nGerard Helferich<\/span>
\nRavi Howard<\/span>
\nLisa Howorth<\/span>
\nT. R. Hummer<\/span>
\nGreg Iles<\/span>
\nDeborah Johnson<\/span>
\nRheta Grimsley Johnson<\/span>
\nMichael Kardos<\/span>
\nJames Kimbrell<\/span>
\nTaylor Kitchings<\/span>
\nJamie Kornegay<\/span>
\nKos Kostmayer<\/span>
\nCatherine Lacey<\/span>
\nKiese Laymon<\/span>
\nT. K. Lee<\/span>
\nBeverly Lowry<\/span>
\nRichard Lyons<\/span>
\nSuzanne Marrs<\/span>
\nC. Liegh McInnis<\/span>
\nMargaret McMullan<\/span>
\nGreg Miller<\/span>
\nMary Miller<\/span>
\nAndrew Malan Milward<\/span>
\nBenjamin Morris<\/span>
\nFamily of Willie Morris<\/span>
\nScott Naugle<\/span>
\nTeresa Nicholas<\/span>
\nMichael Pickard<\/span>
\nCatherine Pierce<\/span>
\nJohn Pritchard<\/span>
\nDouglas Ray<\/span>
\nJulia Reed<\/span>
\nJames Seay<\/span>
\nKevin Sessums<\/span>
\nGary Sheppard<\/span>
\nKaty Simpson Smith<\/span>
\nMatthew Clark Smith<\/span>
\nMichael C. Smith<\/span>
\nMichael Farris Smith<\/span>
\nKathryn Stockett<\/span>
\nDonna Tartt<\/span>
\nTate Taylor<\/span>
\nWright Thompson<\/span>
\nNatasha Trethewey<\/span>
\nTiffany Quay Tyson<\/span>
\nJesmyn Ward<\/span>
\nBrad Watson<\/span>
\nLarry Wells<\/span>
\nNeil White<\/span>
\nCurtis Wilkie<\/span>
\nRuth Williams<\/span>
\nAustin Wilson<\/span>
\nGerry Wilson<\/span>
\nSteve Yarbrough<\/span>
\nSteve Yates\u00a0\"The<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mississippi has a thousand histories, but these can be boiled down to two strains: our reactionary side,\u00a0which has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":11917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8294],"tags":[8298,8346,8300,451,8369,8326,8347,3602,8340,3601,8328,8343,8305,8338,8352,8322,3854,8333,8327,5151,8354,8319,8297,8348,8358,8329,8370,8332,8344,8296,8309,8310,8295,8299,8312,8334,8356,8336,8367,2737,8307,6854,8353,1330,8355,1161,8363,8359,8306,8317,8313,8357,7933,8337,6984,8314,2504,7493,8316,51,8311,8315,7930,8301,8321,8345,8303,8360,8324,8323,8361,8362,853,8351,8325,5,8365,1165,4,6882,8330,835,8341,8368,8308,8349,8371,8372,8302,8342,8339,8331,8364,8335,8350,8366,6095,8318,8304,1105,8320,3947],"class_list":["post-32976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-correspondence","tag-ace-atkins","tag-andrew-malan-milward","tag-angela-ball","tag-ann-fisher-wirth","tag-austin-wilson","tag-becky-hagenston","tag-benjamin-morris","tag-beth-ann-fennelly","tag-beverly-lowry","tag-brad-watson","tag-brooks-haxton","tag-c-liegh-mcinnis","tag-carolyn-brown","tag-catherine-lacey","tag-catherine-pierce","tag-christopher-garland","tag-curtis-wilkie","tag-deborah-johnson","tag-derrick-harriell","tag-donna-tartt","tag-douglas-ray","tag-ellen-ann-fentress","tag-ellis-anderson","tag-family-of-willie-morris","tag-gary-sheppard","tag-gerard-helferich","tag-gerry-wilson","tag-greg-iles","tag-greg-miller","tag-hb-1523","tag-hodding-carter-iii","tag-hodding-carter-iv","tag-house-bill-1523","tag-howard-bahr","tag-james-dickson","tag-james-kimbrell","tag-james-seay","tag-jamie-kornegay","tag-jesmyn-ward","tag-jim-dees","tag-jimmy-cajoleas","tag-john-grisham","tag-john-pritchard","tag-john-t-edge","tag-julia-reed","tag-julie-cantrell","tag-kathryn-stockett","tag-katy-simpson-smith","tag-kelly-butler","tag-kelly-ellis","tag-kendall-dunkelberg","tag-kevin-sessums","tag-kiese-laymon","tag-kos-kostmayer","tag-larry-wells","tag-lee-durkee","tag-letter-to-the-editor","tag-lisa-howorth","tag-liz-egan","tag-local-correspondence","tag-maari-carter","tag-margaret-eby","tag-margaret-mcmullan","tag-marion-barnwell","tag-martha-hall-foose","tag-mary-miller","tag-matt-bondurant","tag-matthew-clark-smith","tag-matthew-guinn","tag-melissa-ginsburg","tag-michael-c-smith","tag-michael-farris-smith","tag-michael-kardos","tag-michael-pickard","tag-minrose-gwin","tag-mississippi","tag-natasha-trethewey","tag-neil-white","tag-oxford","tag-phil-bryant","tag-ravi-howard","tag-rheta-grimsley-johnson","tag-richard-lyons","tag-ruth-williams","tag-sarah-c-campbell","tag-scott-naugle","tag-steve-yarbrough","tag-steve-yates","tag-steven-barthelme","tag-suzanne-marrs","tag-t-k-lee","tag-t-r-hummer","tag-tate-taylor","tag-taylor-kitchings","tag-teresa-nicholas","tag-tiffany-quay-tyson","tag-tom-franklin","tag-w-ralph-eubanks","tag-william-boyle","tag-william-dunlap","tag-william-r-ferris","tag-wright-thompson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/LetterToTheEditorFeat.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}