With the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics now officially over, it’s time to focus a little closer to home and award the medals for the 2024 Mississippi Mental Gymnastics. I write today in support of recognizing the cognitive maneuverings of Shad White, 42nd State Auditor of Mississippi, and as he would have you know, the youngest state auditor in the nation. For those who happened to miss this juvenile wunderkind’s routine, allow me to describe why it’s worthy of such recognition.

First, White complains that Mississippi State University is “wasting money” supporting and praising award-winning research into “queer criminology.” What he failed to mention was that the person being praised landed a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.  I’m assuming the State Auditor is aware that grant netted MSU roughly $1 million. Perhaps it was an oversight on his part or maybe he’s just a fan of Mark Twain (“never let the facts get in the way of a good story”) – either way, it’s probably only worthy of a bronze medal.

But wait, there’s more! All of this started last year when White released a report (which is no longer available on his website) that attempted to address the issue of brain drain in Mississippi. It appears his solution has been to make the state inhospitable to those who would think about important social and political issues. Is it any wonder that college educated people flee the state as soon as they can? The logic behind this requires quite a bit of – you guessed it – mental gymnastics. We have now reached silver medal territory.

But what really sets White’s routine apart, and what makes him worthy of a gold medal, is the fact that he is willing to denigrate and criticize things he doesn’t even understand! In one social media post, White complains about “‘colorblind racism’ (whatever that means)” and in his most recent op-ed in The Commercial Dispatch: “and for research into things like ‘queer criminology,’ whatever that is.” How one can criticize things one doesn’t understand and present those opinions as “facts” is, to me, the height of mental gymnastics. Please join me in recognizing these mind-boggling machinations by conferring a gold medal to Auditor White.

Raymond E. Barranco, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Sociology

Mississippi State University