Beyond racism: lessons from the South on racial discrimination and prejudice Seven lessons from the deep South on racism, racial discrimination, and prejudice.

• 

By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer, photos by Melanie Stetson Freeman, Staff photographer
James Young 

Philadelphia, Miss.

How does a black man win the highest political office in this majority-white town, infamous for one of the vilest acts of racial violence in modern American history?
knows precisely. The chatty, barrel-chested Pentecostal pastor and former town ambulance worker became the city's first black mayor last year, mainly by promising he wouldn't fix anybody's traffic tickets. But despite his well-known face and pro-business outlook, Mr. Young admits he still bears the burden of his race in the eyes of many townspeople.
So how did he overcome the racial odds? "My philosophy is that I refuse to stop the truck and get out to fight you," he says. "I'm going to keep moving forward."

READ MORE http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0918/Beyond-racism-lessons-from-the-South-on-racial-discrimination-and-prejudice