By Harold Brummett

Denmark Star Route

In Toccopola there is a little gas station and restaurant called Toccopola Grocery. There is a pump that sells non ethanol good for chainsaws, weedeaters, and lawnmowers.

The food is Southern country fare comforting to those who work for a living with deep roots in the area. In the morning customers are farmers, retired men, tradesmen who stop by for a biscuit on their way to work – most with their caps on. Lots of hot coffee.

There are places like this all over North Mississippi. Folks gather and most if not all wear a cap. Caps worn not as a political statement, but as a necessity. Bright sun, sweaty brows and receding hairlines make the cap something essential for working folks.   

The caps reflect the personality or the preference of the wearer. Logos on the front, tractor brands of all types, feed and seed stores both local and national. Some motorcycle, a few local high schools, some car brands – yet to see an electric car logo on a hat. Patch caps are all the rage now, harking back to the 1950’s and 60’s.

These are caps that instead of embroidery or silk screening has a logo patch sewn on the front. This is working man fashion. These caps have sweat stains on them and the favorites worn to tatters and only retain their shape when on the head.

Caps are left in the car when they go to church to be donned on the way home. Caps are practical as well as indicative of the personality of the person wearing it.  Folks may not notice the person, but all notice the cap.

Those who don’t wear caps are usually town people, lawyers, elites (or wannabes), the upper crust or folks who think they are. If an elite does wear a cap it is usually stiff and new, no sweat or grease on these caps.

The message attempted to send is that I am one of you, vote for me. Elites smile smiles that are as stiff as the brim of the new cap they wear and as sincere as the logo silkscreened on the front.

When you see a man in a cap look at his hands – chapped, nails cut short to the quick, hands that have held babies and wielded hammers. A man in a well-worn cap knows how to change oil or repack a wheel bearing. The man with the cap is the one that has pulled calves and plowed a straight row.

The man in the cap has too many children to take care of, but not too many to love. The man in a cap has a dog that lays at his feet and a wife that lies at his side after working a long hard day to cover necessities if not wants.

Be the man in the cap – the greasier and sweat stained cap the better.

The elites will come this season looking for your vote. You will see them on television or in person mostly bare headed and slick in all manner of ways. Show who you are, wear the damn cap.