Recently, I received an email from a close family friend who now lives in England. My friend is writing a book about her growing up in the Delta and though she has been living in England for the better part of 40 years, her heart remains here.

In her email she asked me to provide her with my thoughts concerning the future challenges of the Delta, our current problems, and what has changed in the Delta during the past 25 years. The elements of this question are things I consider each and every day. My reply to her was this - the Delta faces many challenges, however the three challenges in my view that must be overcome in order for our region of the state to move ahead are: agriculture, race, and politics.

Agriculture
The Delta was built on agriculture and will always be an agricultural center. When I was growing up in Shelby, cotton farmers during the early fifties and sixties made a very nice living off of 1,000 acres in turn this wealth was spread all over the Delta. Prices during that era were fairly stable, the overhead to farm was extremely reasonable, and competition from other cotton farmers around the world was minimal. Not true in 2003. Today, farmers are faced with price instability on a daily basis, there is competition beyond belief from other farmers in the world, and the overhead to farm has increased beyond belief.

Farming is a tough life today and the Delta is dependent on our farmers doing well. Congress plays a large role in many ways as to the future of our farmers. All of this has a direct effect on the Deltas economy.

Politics
Today in the Mississippi Delta, there is an enormous number of unqualified elected officials, often corrupt as the day is long. With little education and no experience of running a corporate concern, many of these officials simply do not have the talents needed to run a municipality. As these communities begin to fall one by one due to lack of leadership, these communities fall into the trap of total government funding across the board. Once this happens, there is almost no possibility of luring a new company or industry to that town. Things get worse when the upwardly mobile leave that community in droves. These unqualified elected officials also have a direct impact on our educational system. Deltan's need to elect those who have the talents to run things in a positive direction. We need to elect those who have a good heart - black, white, purple - race doesn't matter - ability does.

This has a direct effect on the Delta's economy.

Race
Racial issues continue to be a challenge. With that said, let me state for the record that the Mississippi Delta has come a long way in our race relations and this we all must be extremely proud. This change is a great example of the good things that can happen when people work together. However, racists - both black and white - still exist here in great numbers. For the Delta to move forward, the black and white leaders must come together and agree on how the Delta must progress and how BOTH races can benefit - together, together, together - this is the key. Both races must face the fact that corruption on any level in the Delta cannot exist in order for the Delta to move forward. Taking my example of the unqualified elected officials, if the corruption and the behind closed door dealings does not come to an end, then the black and white good intentioned residents will begin to move out of the Delta and in the end this will leave the Delta consisting of A) corrupt leaders and, B) the individuals who didn't have enough sense to leave. At that point, the Delta will then truly be another third world propped up entirely by the government with half of the monthly government money going to feed and clothe the poor and the other half going into the pockets corrupt leaders.

This was basically my reply to my friend in England. Hard-hitting indeed, but truthful and to the point.

Can these problems be overcome? Absolutely. The key is to get the leaders of both races to sit down, come up with a plan as to how ALL will benefit in the years to come - implement this plan and stay the course. The rest will work itself out.

Scott Coopwood
DBJ publisher