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The Great Mississippi (River) Flood
Black People Were Treated Worse Than After Hurricane Katrina
In Northern Minnesota, flowing from Lake Itasca, is what might be called a creek that, at one point, one can step over a few rocks and walk to the other side.
I stepped over those rocks as a youth; it's hard to imagine that peaceful stream would become the mighty Mississippi River as it wound its way South to New Orleans and the Mississippi delta.
After leaving Minnesota, the Mississippi River is the border that divides multiple states; Iowa and Illinois, Missouri and Illinois, Arkansas and Tennessee, and Louisiana and Mississippi. Communities large and small grew up on both sides of its banks. At Lake Itasca, the river is barely twenty feet wide; another point is more than eleven miles wide. Several major rivers flow into the Mississippi River, which became a crucial waterway for commercial shipping. The Mississippi River runs for over 2,300 miles and is the second-longest river in North America.
I grew up in Minneapolis, MN; the river separates Minneapolis from its twin city, St. Paul. My home was about a mile from Minnehaha Creek; we…
