JACKSON, Miss —
This Black History Month, we're taking a look at Mississippi's longest-serving African American elected official. He's Bennie Thompson, and he is the lone democrat in the Mississippi Congressional Delegation. Weeknight Anchor Katina Rankin sat down with him for a one-on-one.
"I was born in my front room of my family home - and my momma used to tell me - to a mid-wife. My momma said, 'Well, you cost 2 chickens and 2 bushels of potatoes," said Congressmen Bennie Thompson of Mississippi. Sweet potatoes at that!
Bennie Thompson is Mississippi's second congressional congressmen, the only majority black district in the state. He's held that title since 1993. He's from a small town outside of the Magnolia State's Capital City - Bolton, Mississippi.
"I live in a little community of five hundred (500) people. And, I've been here my whole life," said Thompson. I've been in the same church, not denomination, church, my whole life. Part of who I am was my exposure in this community."
So, just who is Bennie Thompson?
"Somebody who very rarely meets a stranger, deeply committed to making a difference in all walks of life, who sees as much value in speaking and engaging the homeless person as he does speaking and engaging the millionaire," said Thompson.
Someone he says fights for civil rights. But, to understand the fight, he says you have to look at his history of growing up in the Deep South.
"My first school was named Bolton Colored School. And, I walked past Bolton School every day to get to Bolton Colored School,'" said Thompson. "Never had a new textbook my whole public school career."
But, he says he had teachers who told him not to look at what he didn't have and expressed if they could impart knowledge in his brain then he would be rich educationally. He went to Tougaloo College and later became a teacher himself. Then he said there was a fire in his belly, and he got involved in politics.
"The first campaign I worked on was Ms. Hamer's (Fannie Lou Hamer) campaign in the Delta for congress for the seat I now hold," said Thompson.
He served as an alderman, then mayor, a county supervisor and then eventually a U.S. Congressmen.
(Katina Rankin says,) "Your dad never got a chance to vote, but then your mom cast hers. And, her vote was for ..."
"Me," Thompson finishes Rankin's sentence.
Thompson says he's been fighting ever since.
"There are a lot of battle scars on trying to get it right," said Thompson. "When I sued the state on behalf of Alcorn, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State because Mississippi didn't fund Black colleges like they did the White colleges. We got them 500-million dollars, but it took us twenty-seven (27) years of fighting to get it done. When we sued the state to redistrict the legislature, we only had 1 Black person, Robert Clark, but now we got black representatives from the Coast to DeSoto County."
He says those fights and many others have made him a 'frienenemy' of many in the state.
"Woodrow Wilson said something that's kind of instructive. He said, 'If you ever want to make enemies, try to change things'. So, I made a few enemies along the way. But, it’s been for the right reason."
And he says he wouldn't change a thing.
"What you see is what you get," said Thompson. "I like the blues. I like fun, fellowship and I don't make excuses for relationships I have. I know people by name. I know their children. You know, I still rabbit hunt. I deer hunt. I fish. I Iie about how many fish I caught. You can do things and not lose who you are. And, that's so important and I thank you for just giving me a chance to talk."
Currently, Thompson is chairman of the committee on Homeland Security.