Scott Colom

When I first saw his photo, I thought, That’s one of the Colom twins. I lived in Jackson in the 1980s. My then-husband was active in Republican politics. An unusual Republican at the time was Wilbur Colom. Not too many African American Republicans back then. Wilbur Colom ran for state treasurer. He didn’t win. He had two little twin boys. Four or five years old. Cute as they could be. Scott and Andrew.

Scott Colom is now the US Senator from Mississippi.

The first African American US Senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction.

You know why Mississippi didn’t have any US Senators after Reconstruction? Because in an era white Mississippi sacreligiously called “Redemption,” whites violently threw African Americans out of the Mississippi political process. From voting. From running for office. From exercising their constitutional rights. White Mississippians then kept African American Mississippians out of statewide elected office for almost a hundred and fifty years.

You know why Mississippi has an African American US Senator now? Because then-Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith refused to approve Scott Colom for a federal judgeship. A bipartisan group of Mississippi officials supported Colom’s nomination. Cindy Hyde-Smith refused to do so. Colom ran against her. He won.

It’s a good day to be from Mississippi.