Are there racist people there? Redneck, etc..? Please I do not mean to offend anyone. (how much, homes)

[sassieb75]

I have brought this issue up as well. I am in an interracial marriage and we have 3 beautiful bi-racial children. I lived in California most of my life and for the most part never encountered racism. I think once or twice i heard kids in highschool use the "N" word. Now we live in Arizona and although I haven't had any major issues, I get looks sometimes. Im not always sure if it is negative or not unless Im sitting having dinner with the family and the guy at the table across the way, who by the way is wearing a hat with a confederate flag on it, is staring at me non-stop. So, yes it is everywhere. I have had people tell me "The last place you wanna go is the South"! Im not sure! It may be worse, it may not be. It IS a concern and it may be just be that we stay put. I wont know how i feel until we go for a visit and even then who really knows?

[mhogan10010]

Originally Posted by melnper

Okay, I know this is a NC thread, however Saralee mentioned how nice Biloxi, Mississippi was. I lived in the Biloxi/Gulfport area for 2 years and it was 2 years too long. My husband used to be in the military so we have lived all over and I saw more racism toward black people in Mississippi than I have in any other state. Call me ignorant, but since we are seriously considering a move to NC next year, the racism issue has been in the back of my mind. I have wondered if NC has the same issues I found in Biloxi. What I was amazed by was the people who would make a racist comment to me (I'm white) about a black person. These people had no idea if I married a black man or had a black boyfriend, yet they assumed it was okay to make rude comments. Like I said, I am not black, yet I was offended. A furniture salesman in Biloxi told me, "Hey if you want to get food stamps or welfare in this town, just go get yourself a can of spraypaint and paint yourself black". I was appalled. I worked with a very young girl, about 16 who had lived there all of her life. She said her younger brother's best friend was black. Her father allowed her brother to play with the boy, but he could not come in the house or stay the night because of his skin color. These are just a couple of examples of the many I encountered while living there. At times, I felt like I had traveled back several decades. People still talked about living on one side of the "tracks". I really hope NC is different. I have been doing so much research on employment, real estate, local events, etc... that I would hate to get my hopes up just to be dissappointed later. Somebody please tell me what it's really like. And if the actual city makes a difference, the areas I am considering are Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Thanks

If you stick to the central piedmont with all the growth, it is not so pronounced. However, if you go to either end of the state, especially Eastern NC, you will find the racism alive and well. I didn't want to regurgitate any of this but here are a couple of things I encountered while there...
At a political fund raiser I had a guy running for reelection to state government say to me, "we have got to get the n***er vote out this time." I'm talking congressional here.
A middle aged lady used to make reference to some of their Black neighbors and explain that , "they were black but they were clean." She thought that was a compliment!
During African American History week at school, there was a huge uproar. A teacher was overheard in the lounge calling it, Ni**er history month." Amazing thing was the level of local support when the principle tried to discipline her.
A older white gentleman described the black part of town and said, "there ain't much law down there. Well, they really don't want much law down there anyway"
I was visiting a First Baptist church on Pastor Exchange Sunday. All the local churches would pick the names out of a hat. Then you would send your pastor to another congregation, and theirs would come to your church and speak. Well, the local Black Missionary Baptist preacher was who they got. A lady knew I was visiting and said, "I am so sorry that you had to come and listen to that....don't worry, it won't happen again." To which I said, "too bad, it was a good message."
I could go on but what is the point.
PS-My sister used to live in Richton MS--I spent some time down there visiting them. I think the strangest thing I saw, was a 3 yr old on a three wheeler and chewing tobacco. A different world.

[calculus]

People have to quit teaching racism. I have known a few black women that won't date a white man because of his skin color. How racist can you get? Then they told me they get mad when they see a white women with a black man. What sort of racial intolerance is this? We need not focus on the term redneck, since the rednecks I have known are the most helpful people you will ever meet. I wish I lived around more of them. People from the north are hateful when they use the word redneck then follow it with toothless or stupid. This shows the nothern persons ignorance. I even had a guy tell me that the south was full of idiots because they elected George Bush. His hatred for Bush was transferred to feelings of southerners. What a true idiot! Racism comes in all colors. I wouldn't judge everyone by their dress, talk or rebel flag. Acting like that is foolish.

[whotmewory]

Like Saralee I am originally from Jersey. Left there in 76 thank God!

I think you're the victim of our modern school system or the media perhaps and the prejudiced ilk of "little Catie Couric" and company. What you'll find in Dixie is not what most "Yankees" preconceive in their minds.

We've lived in more than 6 states. What we've found is less "racists" than "xenophobes." Know what that is? Closed minded little folk with regional mindsets who will often insist that where THEY happen to live is somehow God's Country and that outside ideas don't belong. THOSE are EVERYwhere!

We've found that out both in our [new] little hamlet of Yadkinville (13.500 people) just as we did in metropoolitan Seattle,WA (735,000 residents) and Philadelphia, PA before that, and Naples, Italy before that, and Norfolk, VA before that.

Come on down and make up your own mind. We love Dixie. We moved here from the People's Republic of Washington State and we love it here. Dixie is truly its own country.

If you come on down, AVOID bucolic Winston-Salem. Stay East! The Winston-Salem city fathers here and in the surrounding counties have for 20 years denied the imminent demise of textiles and tobacco and furniture industries to Communist China (the little buddies of Wal-Mart shoppers). They've literally nothing to attract the kind of entertainment and businesses and night life that has been done in San Antonio, Houston, Seattle, Atlanta, Nashville, and even little towns like Snohomish, WA. Instead they've been hiding their collective heads in the sand. And now - at least in Forsyth, Davie, Davidson, Guilford, Rowan, Iredell and especially Yadkin counties - the economies are working hard to rend from Mississippi the national mantel of economic backwater.

BIG HOWEVER - You might very seriously want to reconsider and relocate even further south to Atlanta, GA or west to [beeootiful] Nashville,TN. My nurse wife and myself (a licensed professional engineer) have found the career pickin's here friscally catastrophic.

But othewise, the wine is good.

Cheers!

[exjerseyite]

If this is any help, I definitely see more black/white couples in Greensboro than I did in the Northeast, and most people don't seem to bat an eye.

And somehow I think it's easier to blend in in Greensboro vs. in Winston, which seems more old money/ the haves and have-nots. A black friend from NJ moved there with her white husband--to Winston--a few years ago, but has since moved eastward toward Raleigh.

[jasonkruk]

Racism is everywhere, I was raised in NY by a racist parent and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I had a period in life that I wanted to be like this person, but I have since grown up and seen there is no reason for this stupidity.

I have seen that there is not as much racism around as there used to be. When I first moved down here the KKK used to march and have a pretty strong presence, but I haven't heard of that sort of thing in about 8 years. Although some people in the south are still fighting the civil war ("The south will rise again!"), but these people are such a minority that there is nothing to worry about.

I think the movies and TV have exaggerated the south, just like they have done to NY for so long, most people down here think that all of NY is the city (dirty and dangerous), the most common question I was asked when I moved here was "Have you ever been mugged?"

All in all it is a very easy transition from north to south, there is not anymore racism or "rednecks" here than there is anywhere else I have been.

[AdamAndTerri]

Originally Posted by sassieb75

I have brought this issue up as well. I am in an interracial marriage and we have 3 beautiful bi-racial children. I lived in California most of my life and for the most part never encountered racism. I think once or twice i heard kids in highschool use the "N" word. Now we live in Arizona and although I haven't had any major issues, I get looks sometimes. Im not always sure if it is negative or not unless Im sitting having dinner with the family and the guy at the table across the way, who by the way is wearing a hat with a confederate flag on it, is staring at me non-stop. So, yes it is everywhere. I have had people tell me "The last place you wanna go is the South"! Im not sure! It may be worse, it may not be. It IS a concern and it may be just be that we stay put. I wont know how i feel until we go for a visit and even then who really knows?

Hey Sassie--I tried to PM you back (another thread) but your message box has reached capacity. Clean it out and let's continue to talk off line if you wish.

Question to all: Can you not own a gun, a confederate flag, or give a hoot about what color a person is and still be considered a redneck? Others say NO I've asked in the past, but I'm not convinced. Sounds like a strange question, but in all honesty, I'd really like to know what the definition of a "redneck" is to most people.

[Cansbigsis22]

It's unfortunate that there is racism, but it is what it is. It exists everywhere so there is no getting away from it. North, south, east and west...it reigns!! As long as there's the ignorance that one race is more superior (there's a difference between superiority and having pride) it will exist. What's really unfortunate is that a person, or group of people, are referred to as a redneck, ni**er, spade, *******, or other just because of someone else's mindset.

[Sharon R.]

To me, a redneck is not a lifestyle, as in someone who drives a pickup, likes to hunt, lives in a trailer, etc. It's an attitude. It is intolerance, even hatred, for those who are not the same. In addition, they are usually filthy slobs who tie up and/or ignore the dog, use the yard or the highway as their trash can, and they teach their children to be the same way. They usually smoke. They hate "snotty rich folks" who have worked hard for what they have, because they do the minimal they have to in order to get by. I don't like them. I drive a pickup, like to bowl, have a hunting dog, but I would be offended to be called a redneck. That's my definition, yours may be different.

[mm34b]

If you want to get technical about it, Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as a white member of the Southern rural laboring class. Any other attributes are only personal beliefs.