Cooperation blossoms among many citizens

Okolona's long attempt to rediscover itself as an inclusive and vibrant community appears to have made significant progress in the past five years, and communitywide cooperation holds out hope that growth and prosperity are within reach.


Daily Journal staff writer Sandi Beason's series of stories Sunday and Monday captured historic perspective about how things came to be as they are - and the real energy now evident to make life better for all.


Okolona's leadership - civic, business and political - has discovered that working together reaches goals more surely and with greater momentum than solo efforts. The Chamber of Commerce, led by Executive Director Patsy Gregory, has become a bellwether for progressive change and a clearinghouse for communication.


In 2000, Okolona joined the Mississippi Main Street program, a statewide association of downtown alliances and partnerships. Ideas shared, information exchanged, and intellectual resources focused on common goals help towns like Okolona identify goals, reach them, and look toward specific longer-term progress.


The chamber also was instrumental in settling a boycott by the 60 percent majority African-American community of the city's businesses. Boycotts have been threatened or implemented for 25 years, mostly because race relations stayed stuck in the era of segregation.


That's changing. Cooperation has become the byword between sensible whites and blacks, between Okolona and Chickasaw County, and between civic leadership, resources in the region and within state government.


We believe the linchpin of success for the new Okolona will be creation of confidence in the public schools. That includes white families who make up a large minority of the school constituency. Whites account for 40 percent of the town's population; the schools are 98 percent black.


Schools mirror a community's mind. When schools have the public's confidence and its undivided focus, they have a better chance of thriving and succeeding in the difficult education task. 


Private education is an option parents are free to exercise, but the most successful communities build industrial sectors, commercial interests, and retail businesses on the strength of well-educated employees and a school system attractive to people moving in. Okolona Superintendent Eddie Prather fully understands the need for community unity in building a strong public school system and he's focused on achieving it.


William Raspberry, the Okolona native who is a widely read syndicated columnist for The Washington Post, has pledged to back a Megaskills Program to help train all willing parents in the skills and methods that will help their children succeed.


Okolona's assets include a renewed attitude for success. Attitude, coupled with determination and a generous spirit of cooperation, will make a bright future for Okolona as has happened in many other communities.