04. Southern gotham
I am burdened, haunted, disturbed by the fact that two men were found hanged (lynched) in Mississippi within twenty four hours of each other this past week. It seems their only crimes were being Black and Homeless. Demartravion “Trey” Reed was a student at Delta State University which is in Cleveland, MS. Summer 2024, I spent approximately six weeks in Cleveland working for a boutique hotel less than a mile away from the university campus. I lived in the hotel with Delta State pilot students as my neighbors. After that positive experience, I have a deep appreciation for the Deep South’s most impoverished region, and I have only mustered the courage to read a few articles. However, the articles I have read inexplicably intertwine the men’s tragic deaths. Where Trey Reed has (rightfully) received national coverage, there is very little information about Cory Zukatis, which is concerning and disheartening. Does homelessness equate to irrelevance?
Demartravion “Trey” Reed
AP News — Mississippi police await autopsy results for Black student found hanged at Delta State
Mississippi Today — Delta State Black student’s hanging death is ruled a suicide
The Guardian — Family of Black student found hanging from tree on school campus hires lawyer Ben Crump
Cory Zukatis
WLBT3 — What we know about the hanging deaths of two men in Mississippi
Mississippi Free Press — Homeless Man Found Hanging From Tree in Vicksburg, Raising Fears After Earlier DSU Hanging
WJTV — Man found hanging from tree in Vicksburg wooded area
I have a growing dissonance with my Southern identity, one entangled with human horrors, systematic weaponized ignorance, and ‘loving thy neighbor’. Ever since I was a little girl, I have known deep in my bones that I want to leave the rural Deep South. I prefer a walkable city. I hate that everyone knows everyone else’s business. The political environment is unforgiving to different ideologies. The traces of racism haunts the land, the people, the air, the water. There is something inherent to a Southerner’s bones and infectious to transplants, something I can’t put my finger on. It’s a juxtaposition of pure kindness and backhanded hypocrisy. Bless her heart. And I have simply never felt comfortable. Still, my desire to leave feels like a betrayal against the rich place that has raised me, broken me down and remade me into someone empathetic, intelligent, and active in my community.
I am no longer ashamed to say I am from Mississippi but I am scared to stay here. Does that make me ungrateful?
Hayley Williams’ new song ‘True Believer’ reflects parallel sentiments. I have annotated the lyrics the way poets dissect another’s work. I listen to music with a scalpel in my hand, the lyrics my subject.
Madeline’s Weekly Favorites
In no particular order and for no particular reason.
Iron Man is one of my comfort movies. I love Tony Stark.
