Some, like former Gov. William Winter, offer cautious optimism that other problems will disappear in time. There are pockets of industrial success stories like Delta Wire in Clarksdale and Viking Range in Greenwood. And some Delta leaders, like former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, see the Delta as a natural center for Internet commerce. It's a very slow process made more complex by distrust among the races, made more complex by very poor schools, made more complex by the reluctance to invest in the Delta. It's a real challenge.
Unemployment is high and pay low for many of the jobs that do exist.
Other areas of the state may share some of the problems but nowhere is the situation as acute, desperate and widespread as in the Delta. The Delta's travails, though regional, have an impact far beyond its borders. That's what people see of Mississippi. Fifteen Delta counties had higher unemployment rates than the state's 5.5 percent average last fiscal year. Fourteen exceeded the state's average poverty level.