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Maybe in some places in the South. But my argument through all these several South-bashing threads is that the South is not uniform. It is not uniformly racist. It is not uniformly covered with Magnolia blossoms. It is not uniformly defined by KKK membership. There are pockets of the South where racism thrives. And there are pockets in the North where racism thrives.
If people asked why is there so much racism in this country, and then cited some incidents in the South, you wouldn't hear a peep out of me. But instead, they ask why is there so much racism in the South, and then try to deny that there is racism where they live. Racists are everywhere.
Frankly, I get darn tired of people making presumptions about me based on where I live. I'm probably much more liberal than half the posters criticizing the South. It gets wearing when people think you are stupid because you hail from the South, and they do think that. Then, when they realize you aren't uneducated, they ask you which private school you attended. I've been asked that question literally hundreds of times. I don't have a Southern accent. The presumption is based entirely on where I live. I've had people try to explain classical music to me. People have tried to "introduce" me to classic books, when I have literally thousands of books in my home.
There are dozens of stories people have shared about racial incidents in the South. I can tell dozens of stories about prejudice against Southerners. And it doesn't matter where prejudice is directed. All prejudice is is making up your mind before you know the facts. It's about closing doors before you know what's on the other side. I wish I was a completely prejudice-free person. I've got all sorts of biases and mindsets that pop up. But when I am aware of them, sometimes made aware of them, I try to overcome them.
When I was younger, I probably felt a lot like you do. I had my fair measure of disdain for the South. In going away, I learned to appreciate some of the things about the South. I appreciate lots of things about the North as well. I've learned that stereotypes are never 100% true, and that even when someone is taking a position I vehemently disagree with, that that person isn't 100% wrong, and that I'm not 100% right. There are no absolutes.
I live in the South, and while I miss things from some of the other places I've lived, I've also learned that the case isn't that those things don't exist in the South, they just don't happen to be readily available in my tiny part of the South. I've learned that rednecks live everywhere, even in big Northern cities. Religious fundamentalism isn't just in the South. Sarah Palin's church in Alaska demonstrates that. Racism takes lots of forms and is everywhere. Snobbery, cliques, clannishness, everybody has something they want to protect from people they consider less worthy.
^^I actually do agree with you on most of this. I have lived in the South my entire life, and by far my biggest complaint is simply the hot weather, which has nothing to do with anyone. But I've also witnessed a LOT of racism first hand. I've also heard plenty of anecdotes involving racism in other parts of the country. You're right, racism exist everywhere. Most likely ever town in the world contains at least a wee bit of racism.
That being said, I've also heard Southerners (not you) claim that racism is all but dead in the South, or that what little racism there is is done mostly by minorities, which is far from true. I actually believed that myself at one time, before I worked in an all-white company where I suddenly witnessed daily racism. Of course, the racism that currently exist here is not the same as it was 60+ years ago. My racist coworkers aren't very likely to lynch a black many because he whistled at a white woman. They'd be, at the worst, unfriendly to him in person, and then say all sorts of horrible things about him behind his back. They do the same toward Northerners, West coast folks, etc. Basically, anyone who's not exactly like them is almost guaranteed ridicule once they leave the room. I don't know if this is just a Southern thing or not (probably not), but it certainly happens all the time and I have no problem bringing it up when some people talk about the South like it's some utopia (not saying you're doing this, of course).
The reason why I would NEVER live in the South again is because people are so darn IGNORANT and proud of it. I watched a documentary about a black man in MS that was wrongfully commited of a crime. When they asked the redneck locals about the case, like NO ONE offered even a word of sympathy, it was almost like they thought he deserved it even though he NEVER did anything wrong. I was OUTRAGED!
After watching this, I was shocked that there could be places like this in a country like the USA. The most ironic about this whole thing is the fact that these morons are the one that are always talking about God, Jesus, church and all this BS ad nauseum. If you are indeed a follower of God, why don't you open up your churches to Blacks? Why do they have to have White and Black churches in the South? Anyways, I have no respect for this ignorant culture of moronic redneck trash.
The reason why I would NEVER live in the South again is because people are so darn IGNORANT and proud of it. I watched a documentary about a black man in MS that was wrongfully commited of a crime. When they asked the redneck locals about the case, like NO ONE offered even a word of sympathy, it was almost like they thought he deserved it even though he NEVER did anything wrong. I was OUTRAGED!
You must also keep in mind that the media will generally interview the worst possible specimens they can find, regardless of locale or situation. They also like to interview those with the most extreme beliefs. It makes for better ratings if you get people riled up and/or scared.
(and this coming from a Southerner who hates living here!)
The reason why I would NEVER live in the South again is because people are so darn IGNORANT and proud of it. I watched a documentary about a black man in MS that was wrongfully commited of a crime. When they asked the redneck locals about the case, like NO ONE offered even a word of sympathy, it was almost like they thought he deserved it even though he NEVER did anything wrong. I was OUTRAGED!
After watching this, I was shocked that there could be places like this in a country like the USA. The most ironic about this whole thing is the fact that these morons are the one that are always talking about God, Jesus, church and all this BS ad nauseum. If you are indeed a follower of God, why don't you open up your churches to Blacks? Why do they have to have White and Black churches in the South? Anyways, I have no respect for this ignorant culture of moronic redneck trash.
Perhaps you could wrap your mind around the idea that the culture of the moronic redneck trash is a sub-culture, and not descriptive of all of the South. You know, the way that Silicon Valley is a sub-culture, or that the Boston Brahmins are a sub-culture, or the Savannah eccentrics are a sub-culture, the Mississippi literari are a sub-culture. Louisiana isn't all like New Orleans. There are diverse sub-cultures in Louisiana, as there are in every state.
(and P.S.---Southerners have often commented on how the media participates in perpetuating stereotypes. During the flooding on the White River a couple of springs ago, a friend of mine was trying to clean up. She had just had a baby, was wearing maternity clothes because she hadn't gotten the baby weight off yet. Was wearing her husband's workboots while she shoveled mud off the drive. And when the press decided to pick someone to interview in the upscale neighborhood she lived in, where they could have spoken to any number of well-dressed folk with BMW's in the drive, they chose the woman in the ill-fitting clothes with men's workboots and a baby on her hip.)
The reason why I would NEVER live in the South again is because people are so darn IGNORANT and proud of it. I watched a documentary about a black man in MS that was wrongfully commited of a crime. When they asked the redneck locals about the case, like NO ONE offered even a word of sympathy, it was almost like they thought he deserved it even though he NEVER did anything wrong. I was OUTRAGED!
After watching this, I was shocked that there could be places like this in a country like the USA. The most ironic about this whole thing is the fact that these morons are the one that are always talking about God, Jesus, church and all this BS ad nauseum. If you are indeed a follower of God, why don't you open up your churches to Blacks? Why do they have to have White and Black churches in the South? Anyways, I have no respect for this ignorant culture of moronic redneck trash.
Well, the man was guilty of being black. Just like Barack Obama. Isn't that enough?
They want to move to Texas and they are not doing it by choice. They are moving there out of necessity due to its abundance of jobs. When the economy improves in 3 years, don't be suprised to see people moving back to NY, California etc.
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