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Visiting northern Arkansas was a huge eye opener for me.
Where people still say "the blacks" in public and at work, cowboy hats, dry counties, sign above public places that say "NO WEAPONS ALLOWED"...as if it's normal. People called us all Yankees....like...everyone said that. They interjected this weird north vs. south thing into all conversations. I didn't know anyone cared about that anymore, but they certainly think the north has this strange problem with the south like they have with the north.
I tried to let them down easy and tell them that no one up north gives a crap about any north/south fight. I think a lot of it is that northerners go down south on vacation and to travel more than southerners enter "THE NORTH". I didn't really meet anyone who had been "up north". They think it's cold 6 months of the year (as opposed to 4), and that everyone lives in a run down dirty city and hates the south with a passion.
Wow are you serious?? sometimes i think that people are getting way too politically correct in north america. There is nothing wrong with calling black people black, i say it all the time. It also saves time and its easier than always saying african american. We could also call white people "caucasian" but most dont, because its stupid when you can just say white. These days people are so afraid to be the tiniest bit racist that they always have to call black people african americans. Even when its not racist at all.
Visiting northern Arkansas was a huge eye opener for me.
Where people still say "the blacks" in public and at work, cowboy hats, dry counties, sign above public places that say "NO WEAPONS ALLOWED"...as if it's normal. People called us all Yankees....like...everyone said that.....
Wow, not only is there political correctness but it has now evolved into an oppressive prissiness.
The interior of southern Florida ( in '68 ) was by far the most backward, scariest place I've ever been. Hitch hiking thru there as a young college student gave me the willies.
Visiting northern Arkansas was a huge eye opener for me.
Where people still say "the blacks" in public and at work, cowboy hats, dry counties, sign above public places that say "NO WEAPONS ALLOWED"...as if it's normal. People called us all Yankees....like...everyone said that. They interjected this weird north vs. south thing into all conversations. I didn't know anyone cared about that anymore, but they certainly think the north has this strange problem with the south like they have with the north.
I tried to let them down easy and tell them that no one up north gives a crap about any north/south fight. I think a lot of it is that northerners go down south on vacation and to travel more than southerners enter "THE NORTH". I didn't really meet anyone who had been "up north". They think it's cold 6 months of the year (as opposed to 4), and that everyone lives in a run down dirty city and hates the south with a passion.
Wow are you serious?? sometimes i think that people are getting way too politically correct in north america. There is nothing wrong with calling black people black, i say it all the time. It also saves time and its easier than always saying african american. We could also call white people "caucasian" but most dont, because its stupid when you can just say white. These days people are so afraid to be the tiniest bit racist that they always have to call black people african americans. Even when its not racist at all.
No no.....I say "black people" all the time or refer to black people as blacks without crying that I'm not saying African American. I don't think saying black is anymore racist than calling people whites.
I'm talking about a conversation in the middle of an office of 20 workers where one woman warned my friend to stay away from Memphis and to fly out of an airport in Arkansas because "that Memphis airport is all run by the blacks", and not one of the people even flinched. Or how "there's so much crime down in Little Rock because that's where all those blacks live". I can't even image what would happen if I said anything like that in my accounting office here in Chicago. It was said right out in the open and it was said in a tone of voice that almost made me shiver. It wasn't just one or two people either, it was a lot of people, and "blacks" was always said to involve every single African American in the country. I looked up, and the area I was in was less than 1% black. I'm gay and no one knew it, and I wondered what would have been said about me if gay came up in the conversation.
Just between that, the confederate flags everywhere, the north south thing, the fact they all called us Yankees in a way we could tell they were calling us "different" etc. It all made me feel very uneasy. My friend (who's working down there for 9 months) said her coworker was talking about the shotgun they bought their 8 year old grandson. My friend asked about her granddaughter, and the woman said she got her gun when she was 4...but the son was "quite a little troublemaker" so he had to wait till he was 8....
what!?
Last edited by Chicago60614; 02-19-2008 at 06:12 PM..
Wow, not only is there political correctness but it has now evolved into an oppressive prissiness.
now I'm wondering how it really is in other areas of the country.
In Chicago people would be pretty offended if someone made a comment in public or in the middle of a workplace saying things like "Well that use to be a really charming street until all those blacks moved in a few years ago" or "Stay away from that whole side of town, the blacks run everything and it's not safe"...
When I hear THE BLACKS or THE GAYS or THE CHINESE....it just sounds scary. That's a phrase used when you're throwing an entire group of people into one blank sterotype without any regard for individuality.
No no.....I say "black people" all the time or refer to black people as blacks without crying that I'm not saying African American. I don't think saying black is anymore racist than calling people whites.
I'm talking about a conversation in the middle of an office of 20 workers where one woman warned my friend to stay away from Memphis and to fly out of an airport in Arkansas because "that Memphis airport is all run by the blacks", and not one of the people even flinched. Or how "there's so much crime down in Little Rock because that's where all those blacks live". I can't even image what would happen if I said anything like that in my accounting office here in Chicago. It was said right out in the open and it was said in a tone of voice that almost made me shiver. It wasn't just one or two people either, it was a lot of people, and "blacks" was always said to involve every single African American in the country. I looked up, and the area I was in was less than 1% black. I'm gay and no one knew it, and I wondered what would have been said about me if gay came up in the conversation.
Just between that, the confederate flags everywhere, the north south thing, the fact they all called us Yankees in a way we could tell they were calling us "different" etc. It all made me feel very uneasy. My friend (who's working down there for 9 months) said her coworker was talking about the shotgun they bought their 8 year old grandson. My friend asked about her granddaughter, and the woman said she got her gun when she was 4...but the son was "quite a little troublemaker" so he had to wait till he was 8....
what!?
I know what you are talking about here. I just moved away from Fort Smith, Arkansas and people there say and do the exact same things you are talking about. Since moving to Little Rock, I haven't seen one Confederate flag, but in Fort Smith, they easily outnumber American flags.
Where in northern Arkansas were you? Did it happen to be near Harrison? And be thankful sexual orientation didn't come up in conversation. It [promoting discrimination] is today's top political cause by many rural Arkansans.
I was up in Mountain Home. Only 42 black people in a county of 40,000!
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Wow, not only is there political correctness but it has now evolved into an oppressive prissiness.
