12. MSU Fan Reflects on Race Relations at Ole Miss

HottyToddy.com received an email in February from Fran Troxler, who is a Mississippi State graduate and lives in Wears Valley, Tenn., but often plays racquetball at the Turner Center with her friend and fellow MSU alum, Paula Morgan Newman of Bruce.
This particular email was so powerful and an incredible compliment to the Ole Miss student body that we felt the need to share it with our readers. The observations from an outsider, especially from a rival school, are truly profound. So, kudos to the Ole Miss students and thank you for sharing your thoughts, Fran.

I am a dyed in the wool MSU grad 1974 and a native of Ruleville, Mississippi, also home to Fannie Lou Hamer.
Interestingly, I was a guest in the Ole Miss gym this past Friday morning. I reflected on Black History Month as I was checked in at the gym counters by black students. I then sweated through a workout along with several black students as well as white students.
There was TOTAL respect between black and white students in that gym. I saw absolutely no signs of racial tension, and I was impressed.
By the way, I also rode the commuter bus to and from the gym. On my way back, I witnessed a black female student standing on the crowded bus and being bounced around because she was too short to reach the handles on the ceiling. I watched as a young white man sitting with his girlfriend got up and swapped places with the young black female, saying to her, “I can reach those handles.”
As a 1970 high school graduate in the Delta of Mississippi and a MSU rival school alum, I hail Ole Miss tonight. What I witnessed on Friday was a testimony of black and white students treating each other and others with the utmost of respect.
Hotty Toddy, Ole Miss. You deserve it.
Fran Troxler

If you’ve had a similar experience in Oxford or on the Ole Miss campus and feel compelled to share your observations, please email us at hottytoddynews@gmail.com. Fran put it so eloquently: “It really does sicken my heart to have this type of activity still occur, but, I can guarantee you it happens everywhere, and not just on the Ole Miss campus or in only the State of Mississippi. Racial discrimination is alive and well all across the United States and throughout the world, but as I said in my email last night, the students I saw on the Ole Miss campus last Friday are proof positive that not all people (especially Mississippians) are bigoted.”
HottyToddy.com staff report