Sixty years ago on June 28, 1964, the New York Times front page declared, “MISSISSIPPI: A PROFILE OF THE NATION’S MOST SEGREGATED STATE.”

The change in Mississippi culture since has been night and day. For the most part, Black and white mix in peace without fear in workplaces, public venues, civic clubs, universities and colleges, many schools and some churches.

Yet, two vestiges persist. One is a hateful fear in some that the state’s white population majority will be overtaken by non-whites. The other and more insidious vestige is what the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called, “the appalling silence and indifference” of good people with regard to racial injustice.

Our lingering separateness is apparent. Most wealthy Mississippians, business owners, bank executives, physicians and plant managers are white. Most poverty families live in Black households. Most private schools are majority white. Most poor, struggling schools are majority Black. And so on.

The good news out of all this is the strong involvement of so many white and Black Mississippians in racial reconciliation initiatives. The bad news is the persistent need for such.

One of the mainstays for racial reconciliation has been Mission Mississippi. Formed in 1993, the founders envisioned the organization would be “the leading resource and catalyst for Christian reconciliation and racial healing for Mississippi.” Since then other initiatives have sprung up, e.g., Becoming Beloved Community; the Alluvial Collective; Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation; and community initiatives generated by local churches and organizations across the state. Then there are related social justice initiatives such as the Mississippi Center for Justice, the Mississippi Urban League, and Together for Hope.

Last year Brian Crawford became president of Mission Mississippi. A past chief of cybersecurity engineering and analysis for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Brian brings a systems approach to his work. A planter and lead pastor of City Light Church, an intentional multi-ethnic church plant in downtown Vicksburg, he brings a heartfelt commitment to racial reconciliation.

Asked if Mission Mississippi was still relevant, he gave an emphatic yes. “We still don’t know how to get along,” he said, adding he has tweaked Mission Mississippi to focus more on “relational discipleship.”

He described that process to the North Jackson Rotary Club as “achieving healthy relationships across dividing lines.” His five-step rubric shows movement from shared spaces to more authentic and intimate relationships through shared stories and struggles to “common flourishing” through shared successes.

Brian actively travels the state meeting with leaders and regular folk to teach his rubric and pursue Mission Mississippi’s goal to form “one community living reconciled.”

Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.