Confederate Flag Demonstration to Eating at Doe's, Friday, October 16, 2015.

Kathy and I woke up and decided to buy breakfast. Unfortunately, we hadn't seen breakfast places the previous night's trip to "The Square." Since our main job today is to visit the University of Mississippi campus we headed toward campus in hopes of running across a breakfast place first. We didn't. We drove right up to the front gate of the campus and asked the guard at the gate we were looking for breakfast. Without even looking at us like we were stupid, he informed us that we were at the University of Mississippi. We said, "Yes, we know. Can you recommend a place to eat breakfast?" And he told us about "Big, Bad Breakfast". And that is where we eat. The place was full. Kathy and I sat at the lunch counter. The menu is interesting. We learned that Tobasco produces spicy salt and spicy worcestershire sauce. Kathy had an omelet. I had "The Gentleman," fried chicken first soaked in Coca Cola. The meat was tender. The batter was thick. 

On the way back to campus, we took a picture of Faulkner's house, three blocks from "The Square". It is a private residence and doesn't give tours.

 We arrived on campus just in time for an NAACP protest demanding the Mississippi state flag be removed from campus because it has the "southern cross" in the upper left corner. Kathy and I assumed that a state university would certainly not remove the state flag from campus. However, two other state universities already have. The demonstration was orderly. Three black students spoke about their attachment to the university and the alienation by the southern cross on the state flag. Kathy thought they should have had a white speaker to show this is not just a black issue. I think they should have played Steve Earle's "Mississippi, It's time". 

Soon after the anti-flag demonstration, about ten pro-flag demonstrators showed up. This was about five men and three women and two children with one more in a baby carriage, waving Mississippi and southern cross flags. These were not students. One of the southern cross flags had a skull and crossbones on it. One of the guys was wearing a white power hat and carrying a sign saying, "Succession". So much for "heritage, not hate." Newspaper accounts made conflicting claims about who these people were. One claimed that they were members of the KKK from Georgia. Another gave another identify. Anyway, they were greatly out numbered by the protesters of the first group who peppered the second group with insults and questions. Since Kathy and I were standing in the back with the hangers on, we could here the insults and questions of the nearby black students, but could not hear the responses of the further away rebels. Police were keeping the groups apart. A newspaper article said the police eventually lead the group off campus and prevented the black students from following. 

Since Kathy and I couldn't hear well, we left before the end and walked to the university library. We found the James Meredith statue in front of the library.  In 2014, Graeme Phillip Harris and two other students of the Sigma Phi Epsilon hung a noose and an older version of the Georgia flag with the southern cross on the James Meredith statue. The fraternity was closed and the three boys charged with a felony.  In September 2015, a federal judge gave Harris six months in jail, followed by 12-months probation. James Meredith wants the statue torn down and ground to dust because the statue gives a false sense of progress. Back in 1962, federal marshals forced the University of Mississippi to enroll James Meredith. Now 50 years later, Meredith points out that still a federal court, not Mississippi, punished Harris with the hate crime.  

Kathy and I visited the library and the student union bookstore, walked the "Walk of Champions." The university has a tradition of the football walking through the grove on game days. The purpose of the arch is to remind athletes that they play for championships with teamwork, loyalty, and trust. The walk itself will be composed of 17,000 engraved bricks, $250 each. As we left town we passed the baseball diamond. Two teams were there playing a game. The diamond looked new and very nice. 

Kathy and I drove from Oxford straight to Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, Mississippi. Doe's Eat Place is an internationally known dump serving some of the best steaks we have ever eaten. Kathy and I discovered Doe's in previous visit to Greenville in 2009.  Doe's has other locations, but people say they don't give the same run down experience of the original. I am sure this is true. Doe's serves great food and a unique experience. This time Kathy and I shared a table with two guys: Jerry and Lee. One of them was from a small town near Greenville. The other was from Iberia, Louisiana. Now they both live in Texas. Kathy and I had a good time sharing travel stories with them. After finishing our meal at Doe's we camped at Warfield Point Park beside the Mississippi River.