Mississippi Native: L. Patri

"I am a Mississippian. It’s in my blood, my core."

What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? Today’s featured contributor, cannot choose to leave or stay in Mississippi. L. Patri has been fighting his wrongful death row conviction for over three decades. Many of you know him from his monthly column “Chronicles from Parchman,” in which he details his life before and in prison. L. debated taking the Mississippi expat version of the questionnaire. Parchman, after all, is a sort of nightmarish purgatory, a place that those of us in the free world have the privilege of being able to forget exists. Nonetheless, L. Patri remains a Mississippian to his core. Born and raised in Natchez, he maintains deep family and ancestral ties there. Given the choice, he would stay in Mississippi. After all he’s experienced, “Leaving would feel too much like running away.”

L. Patri, aged sixteen, with his grandmother.

Where are you from?

Natchez, Mississippi

How long have you lived in Mississippi?

All of my life. Fifty-five years.

What does “home” mean to you?

Love. Togetherness. A place of strength and warmth and safety. Where I can be who I am or what I choose to be.

How have you cultivated community in Mississippi? Who are the people who have made you feel rooted here?

Not in the ways I would have chosen, but yes. I was raised in communities where my uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, and neighbors were all seen as one unit. One Family. Slept in the same beds, ate the same food, and played the same games. Prayed and stayed is how I look at it now because those bonds still carry over the years.

What’s the weirdest question or assumption you’ve encountered about Mississippi (or about you as a Mississippian) by someone who’s never been here?

I was asked once: would I choose to live in the state of Mississippi if I was freed from prison and why (if I chose yes)? For me that answer has always been a resounding “Yes!” for many reasons. Here are a few: 1) Natchez is and was and will forever be home and the crown jewel of this state. It was our first capitol. 2) Leaving would feel too much like running away after what I’ve lived through for three decades. And 3) My family has settled in Mississippi (Natchez), and we have well over 120 years of Roots, Blood, and Sweat sunk deep within the soil. When I am there, I feel my ancestors strongly.

L.’s baby brother George.

How has living in Mississippi affected your identity and your life’s path?

Hmm. Now that’s difficult and painful because Mississippi has caged me in prison on its death row with the intent to kill me. When I came here, I was on my way to becoming a practicing nurse. I had a caring and empathetic mindset. Over the past three decades, this place has sanitized my outlook and confined my reality. I've become more methodical in my actions and words. My lifestyle is more clinical now, but I've been able to help a lot of guys with their cases and do a lot of good things for a lot of people in here. There's a lot of confusion in this place. People who are uneducated or mentally ill are set up to fail under the current system. My work now is in shining a light on this flawed system and doing my best to fight it from within.

What is something that you’ve learned about Mississippi only by living here? In what ways has Mississippi lived up to your expectations?

As a Black Mississippian who has studied our history, I have learned that our leaders will prey on the weak, poor, and ignorant amongst us without conscience. So far, it has lived up to my expectations.

Do you ever consider moving away someday? Does a sense of duty keep you rooted here? 

Yes, I have had many discussions about leaving it, and each time I have this sense that I and my offspring will one day be just visitors and not natives. So I change my mind a lot.

Do you have a “tipping point”?

Not really, but then I have grown bold in my thought that no white man and his Black lackeys will force me to leave. Again, I am a Mississippian. It’s in my blood, my core.

What do you wish the rest of the country understood about Mississippi?

That Mississippi is not much different than any other state in America. We have our bullies, losers, pioneers. I am learning that we also have some of the best and finest creators of the Arts.

L. Patri (left) with his mother (in pink), his baby sister Doretha, his sister Hattie, Hattie’s son Antonius, and L.’s brother Deon.

Do you have a favorite Mississippi writer, artist, or musician who you think everyone needs to know about?

Wow! That would have been an easy answer years ago, but recently my answer has changed. Richard Wright was my favorite, but I’ve since read Jesmyn Ward and Lewis Nordan. Percival Everett and Imani Perry aren’t Mississippians, but I like the way they write about Mississippi.

If you had one billion dollars to invest in Mississippi, how would you spend your money?

Ha! That’s easy. I would spend it for the educational purposes of destroying our false school books with ones that are truthful and inclusive of all races. I would also use the money to help alleviate the decomposing prisons and facilities housing our citizens, providing better quality living necessities, and paying correctional officers a living wage. I would eliminate the status quo of ignoring the daily suffering of people.

What or who do you want to shamelessly promote? (It can absolutely be a project you’re working on, or something you are involved in.)

Thank you because that may be your easiest question. I want to shamelessly promote Dr. Alison Turner who entered Parchman’s Unit 29 death row housing building and taught me to be the creative writing person you see before you. Her attention to details and repeated suggestions that I give details, details, details, sparked life into what I write and how I write it.

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L. Patri is of Black and Natchez Indian descent, and he is the father of one daughter and a grandfather of five grandchildren. He was born on the river in Natchez, Mississippi, and for the past three decades, he has been challenging his wrongful conviction of capital murder. He writes in multiple and hybrid genres, including thought pieces, journalism, short fiction, letters, and memoir.