Lott Still Popular Back Home

Mickey Baggett sees the signs of a local economy in decline every day, in the televisions, VCRs and drum sets that residents of this Gulf Coast town continually haul into his downtown pawnshop.

“With Trent Lott stepping down, it’s only going to get worse here,” said Baggett, 75. “I was shocked when I heard about his decision.”

Lott’s resignation Friday as the incoming Senate majority leader over racially divisive comments has many in his hometown wondering about their own futures. Love him or hate him, most here give Lott credit for keeping Pascagoula’s shaky economy afloat, mainly by funneling government contracts to the Northrop Grumman shipyard on the edge of town.

“Pascagoula revolves around the shipyard; most people here depend on it for their livelihood,” said Earl Godwin, 53, who is white and has worked as a sheet metal foreman for 32 years.

“I hate that he stepped aside. This town will suffer because of it.”

While Lott will remain in the Senate, residents feared the Republican’s political heft would be stripped along with his leadership title.

Danielle Anderson, a white 34-year-old homemaker who was born and raised in Pascagoula, was blunt. “This town is going to go downhill,” she said. “If people think the economy here was bad before, wait till they see what happens without Trent looking out for us. This town will be abandoned in a year.

“Trent has done so much for south Mississippi. This whole thing is just so stupid,” added Anderson, waving her arms in distress. “If the state of Mississippi doesn’t decide to vote him out, he shouldn’t have to go.”

See this? she indicated, pointing to the American flag emblazoned on her T-shirt. “I’m an American through and through, and it’s un-American that Trent was pushed out like that. He is not a bad man whatsoever.”

At the Dixie Gas station, 33-year-old Thaddeus Fairley, a maintenance man at the shipyard, said that Lott’s decision was purely political. “He didn’t do it for the hard-working man,” said Fairley, who is black. “He did it because the other politicians didn’t want to be connected to him.”

But not everyone was ready to forgive Lott for comments made two weeks ago that voiced support for the 1948 segregationist presidential campaign of fellow GOP Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.

LaTresha Trotter, 42, who is black, teaches toddlers at a Head Start program here. “Even 3- and 4-year-old children are taught to think before they speak,” said Trotter as she inspected Christmas trees in a Wal-Mart parking lot. “Trent Lott should have done the same thing.”

Emotions were running high at a downtown hair salon, where patrons debated the Lott debacle with the stylists. “It was a drastic step, but it was the right step,” said Terrence Williams, 35, a black accountant. “No one is going to look at him and respect him after what he said.”

Lott “gave Mississippi a black eye,” Williams added. “People already think we’re backward, that we don’t wear shoes. But we do wear shoes, and suits too. He put his foot in his mouth and made Mississippi look bad.”

Lamont Parson, a 29-year-old auto engineer, at first declined to join the discussion. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” he intoned. But as the debate grew livelier, Parson couldn’t resist.

“Look, he was trying to give the old man props, give Strom Thurmond a little credit. The way Lott did it, well, that type of thinking is rooted deep inside of him. That’s how he was raised.

“I wished he didn’t step down,” said Parson, who is black. “The Republicans pushed him out because they didn’t want to look bad. But they already look bad, so why bother? Let the man keep his job. He helps Mississippi.”

At that, Williams almost rose to his feet. “People say it’s going to be hard for Mississippi because we won’t have a powerhouse like him pushing for jobs here,” he said. “But after what he said, it would be hard for him to be effective in the future, so Mississippi would have been hurt even if he stayed.”

Only last Sunday, Lott and his wife attended services at First Baptist Church here, and the senator received a five-minute standing ovation, said Baggett, who is white. “He knew we were behind him, and we still are.

“He’ll still be our senator, just not as powerful as he was.”