[PortCity]

Originally Posted by smel

I have family in Georgia and Alabama, and I love both states. Having said that, I can't understand why Georgians think they have the right to look down on Alabama. Today Georgia has the headquarters for one of the most racist groups in the land. It is in Elijay. Also, I know that not long ago there was a sign telling blacks to stay out of a North Georgia county. Don't bring up our negative history without looking at your own. Georgia did not have an easy time with civil rights either. Alabama is a beautiful, progressive state, and I am proud to live here.

Someone hung a noose at a university in south California a couple of months ago and there was a incident in North Carolina as well. There was a truck dragging of a black male in Texas(progresive state with several fortune 500 and 100 companies) a few years ago. The Jena six incident in Jena,La.I`ve heard things about Connecticut and Pennsylvania, so I agree with southernaturlover about Alabama being the state to look down on !

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by PortCity

Someone hung a noose at a university in south California a couple of months ago and there was a incident in North Carolina as well. There was a truck dragging of a black male in Texas(progresive state with several fortune 500 and 100 companies) a few years ago. The Jena six incident in Jena,La.I`ve heard things about Connecticut and Pennsylvania, so I agree with southernaturlover about Alabama being the state to look down on !

Not to mention the goings-on in Bensonhurst, NY, or South Boston when they tried to desegregate. Funny how that never enters into the consciousness of people.

[mimpdaddy]

Originally Posted by Southlander

True.
And the fact that most Tuskegee grads leave the state and rarely -or never-come back. They aren't here to take part in Alabama life and politics.

The thing is - all those awful civil rights images ARE in the past, but outsiders think they're still going on. I was about 10 years old when it happened and living in a part of the state that was SO different. I had nothing to do with it, and so did probably 90% of those now living. But we're still thought of as being that way.

It's human nature to want someone to look down on, and we seem to be it.

You read my mind Southlander.

[smel]

Newsboy, you are proud of your state. Good for you. My father graduated from The University of Georgia, and we own a big chunk of Coca Cola stock. I am related to many Georgians that you would be familiar with, however, that still does not give you the right to cut down Alabama. Stay in Georgia, brag about it, but leave your neighbors alone. There are negatives in Georgia too. I don't want to cut it down, but visit South Georgia sometime, if you want to see a lack of progress. I am sorry; I am doing the same thing you are doing. I really do love Georgia, but leave Bama alone, please.

[PortCity]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Without going into great detail, there are many MANY things that seperate Alabama from Georgia other than the Chattahoochee River -- primarly politics and tax structure. Folks in Alabama are in denial if they think the state is progressive. IT IS NOT! Your system of taxation is the most REGRESSIVE in the nation (heavily dependent on sales and use taxes, with extremely low property taxes). The reason places like Hoover have good such schools is because the Alabama Constitution still empowers "home rule" meaning that affluent "white" communities can just draw a line and secede from undesirable neighbors (ie blacks in Jefferson County). ALA has less than half the population and more school districts and high schhools! Your largest corporation/source of investment is a state retirement system! In the ALA legislature every year, Auburn and U of Alabama have to fight each other for a share of the state budget; in GA, all 34 public universities are governed by a common chancellor and board of regents. And while it's nice to say "Georgia wouldn't be nothing without Atlanta," you could say the very same thing about Chicago and Illinois or Seattle and Washington! As for the civil rights movement, Atlanta set itself apart to become the path to the city it is today starting with RECONSTRUCTION. Did you see Gone With the Wind? When other cities in the south were fighting reform, civic leaders in Atlanta went to NYC and recruited northern investment. When Jim Crow was being made the law of the land in Alabama, Atlanta hosted a world's fair in the 1890s. Google "Henry W. Grady" and "The New South" or "Ralph McGill" "William Hartsfield" and "the City to Busy to Hate." There are very real reasons why Atlanta is home to companies like Delta, Coca-Cola, Delta, the CDC, Home Depot, CNN etc (ATL has the 3rd-highest number of Fortune 500 HQs in the nation after NYC and Houston; there's only 1 in the whole state of ALA). Why does ATL have the largest and busiest airport in the world? Because in the 1920s visionary leaders saw a future in air travel -- and Birmingham could have had but rejected it! Atlanta's entertainment industry ranks third behind NYC and LA for television and film production (nearly a dozen TV series are shot in Georgia) and is the center of the music recording business. Bottom line folks-- Since the year 2000 fewer than 200,000 people have moved to the state of Alabama. That many people move to Georgia every year! Wake up folks ... Y'all got serious image problems. Instead of coming on here defending it DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! When I lived in Atanta and would hear transplanted Alabamians complain about how bad things were back in their home state, I'd always tell them maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they had stayed and fought to make it better. It made me so mad that they were the problem. Maybe y'all need to get mad too.

Exactlly !! Atlanta seperates Georgia from Alabama and in so many ways Atlanta is a state of it`s own.I travel to many places and I believe out side of Atlanta as far as tourism in Goerigia,Savannah comes in second.Atlanta is the population draw for Georgia and without Atlanta Goergia would be no better or maybe even worse than what you are making Alabama out to be.Now the tax system in Alabama isn`t a stereotype it`s fact ! The thread title is about the dealings of ignorant Alabama stereotypes.And it is hard for me to see why Georgians can look down on Alabamians ? "STEREOTYPES" WHY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!???? I`m with smel on state bashing but what is the attraction to Georgia outside of the Atlanta metro which is over half of the states population ? Well Savannah is nice but it is the oldest or one of the oldest cities in Georgia but the metro population isn`t even close to half a million,neither is Columbus ! Atlanta is Georgia`s trophy !!

[smel]

Also, I would never ever want to live in Atlanta. It does not even seem like the South anymore. Of course, there are sections of Atlanta where the Southern flavor remains...but a lot of it is too much like a big city anywhere.

[smel]

This thread is about how we(Alabamians) deal with the negative stereotypes. We are not ignorant, nor backwards. We know where they come from. We are trying to discuss how we handle them. Let us do that without your condescending attitude, just because you happen to live one state over. Sorrry to tell you that Georgia has negative Southern stereotypes to deal with too. I don't believe them, but they are out there. Go make your own thread and deal with them.

[southernnaturelover]

Very true, just ask some people from states like Massachussetts or Connecticut what they think about Georgia and you'll hear the same responses, "backward, racist, bible banger, hick, slow".. yadda yadda yadda.

[Keeper]

Originally Posted by smel

This thread is about how we(Alabamians) deal with the negative stereotypes. We are not ignorant, nor backwards. We know where they come from. We are trying to discuss how we handle them. .

Thank you.. this is not a thread about GA vs AL. Please report posts that are off topic.

[starsfalling]

I believe one way to deal with negative stereotypes is by example. For instance, when I travel I tell people I am from Alabama, and then I precede to make decent conversation, dress appropriately, and show my intelligence. As more people travel here, they will see that we are just people. We are not all the same anymore than any other state is full of people just like one another. We are a very diverse state, and we do have a lot to offer.