Greed, or the love of money, may indeed be the root of all evil, but speculation may be buried right next to the evil root.

Speculation is common practice everywhere.

“Did you hear about Bob and Marcy? They’re having marital problems.”

The very next thing that pops into many people’s heads is the absolute worst cause — marital infidelity.

Even if no facts support that, human nature is to speculate.

Most of the time such mindless speculation is pretty harmless — provided the speculation is kept private, but in some cases the speculation can conjure up sins that may not exist in the least.

One’s past history is often a factor.

Heaven forbid someone who has struggled with substance abuse in the past ever have a bad day, as those around the person will be quick to think, “I wonder if he fell off the wagon again.”

The sins of one’s past are never fully forgotten.

The State of Mississippi is like a drunk who cannot escape his past. With each slight misstep — perceived or real — the rest of the nation casts a speculative eye over its critical glasses.

Late last week this happened as the national media descended on nearby Port Gibson after a man’s body was discovered hanging from a tree. The man’s death was a tragedy regardless of how it happened.

But the speculation ensued.

The man was black which in Mississippi immediately conjured up horrific realities of the state’s past.

Fifty years ago in Mississippi the lynching of black men wasn’t terribly uncommon and the institutional racism that existed allowed many of the deaths to go unpunished.

Surely the man was lynched by a gang of racists, some thought.

Calls for a federal investigation ensued, presumably on the basis that local authorities couldn’t handle it on their own.

The speculation ignored the fact that while certainly Mississippi and many other corners of the globe continue to be occupied by racist individuals, the institutional racism of the past is long gone.

Decades ago, black Mississippians were prevented in every way possible from voting.

As an interesting aside, today the local sheriff whose office is investigating the man’s death is black.

Beyond the question of a possible racial motive for the man’s death, his own past and present also weigh into the speculation minefield.

The man was last seen alive at a Vicksburg casino prompting many to suggest he was distraught over gambling losses and killed himself or, perhaps, that he owed gambling debts to someone else and that the other person may have killed him.

Lots of people go to casinos without creating significant gambling debts. For all we know, he wasn’t gambling at all. Maybe he was simply eating at the restaurant.

The fact is the majority of us don’t know, but many of us jumped to a conclusion based on what we think we know.

As details surfaced about the man’s past, even more speculation fodder came to light. He had been convicted of murdering a woman earlier in his life, having served approximately 25 years for his crime. Speculators suggested that perhaps a relative of his victim decided to take final revenge on him. Again, nothing to go off of; it was merely speculation.

Was the man lynched at the hands of racists, killed by someone else and made to look as if he was lynched, or did he commit suicide?

None of us knows for sure, and the experts leading the investigation — who have been trained not to speculate, but only deal in facts — have suggested they have no plans to answer all the speculation flying around the case. Investigators say they’ll provide additional information when they have facts they can prove.

That’s a wise model for all of us to follow the next time our minds wander in the deep dark roots of speculation.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.