As a lifelong Mississippian who grew up in a small town, I’ve seen changes that have hollowed out many of our rural towns and communities.
When I was growing up, there were garment factories that employed many local people, and most of the businesses were truly “locally owned.” There was no Walmart, no CVS, no McDonald’s and our town was fundamentally stronger for it.
Consider this: Research tells us that a dollar spent with a locally owned business circulates seven times in the community, while that same dollar spent at Walmart leaves that community immediately. And those factories? Well, they were shipped overseas long ago, chasing ever cheaper labor.
Corporate America is even gobbling up local veterinary and dental practices. And Big Ag, as the Delta knows well, has been running small farmers out of business for decades. Even Walmart is no longer the “king of the hill,” with Amazon taking over.
While all of this may be changing and weakening the fabric of small towns across Mississippi, it is our preferred form of economy — capitalism — at work. We’ve actually done this to ourselves because of our love of cheap goods and food, but being a poor state, who could blame us? Regardless, we’re still paying the price.
So, now comes a new “threat” to our local identities and community fabric — Google and other Big Tech companies. The threat comes in the form of their undermining the viability of our local newspapers.
Big Tech was given unregulated, unrestricted platforms when the internet was in its infancy. But now these multibillion-dollar businesses are running local newspapers out of business — simply because our members of Congress have failed to pass legislation correcting this situation.
However, unlike previous corporate assaults on our local communities, we can do something about this one. Our congressional representatives for this area are Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith (202-224-5054), Congressman Michael Guest (202-225-5031) and Congressman Bennie Thompson (202-225-5876). Call and tell them you are a local newspaper reader and that you want them to sponsor Senate Bill 1094 and House Bill 4756.
Note: Senator Wicker has signed onto S-1094.
In doing so, you can help protect this very newspaper before it’s too late.
Camille Wright, Brandon
Fellow Small-Town Mississippian and Subscriber to an Emmerich Newspaper
