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There are groups in the south that hold onto old ideals of racial purity. No more than any other region, in fact, I remember a study that white supremacists are growing larger in the Western states, not in the south. Actually, if you came down here, you'd realize that we are quite careful not to step on any racial toes most of the time. Whites and Blacks neither one want to go back to the old ways.
I speak as a southern man, born and breed. I know how things used to be, and I see how they are now. I can promise you, its not nearly as bad as it used to be. Even in the 80's, there was a time when things were still quite bad on the racial front. Not so today my friend, not so today.
The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks the numbers of hate groups per state and the number of hate groups in the South alone outnumber the total number of groups in the rest of the country. The SPLC's objective is to identify and track hates groups. They have no agenda to smear the South yet their numbers show an overwhelming number of these groups exist in the South.
Just in my personal non-scientific observation, but it seems that people tend to segregate themselves more up North than in the South. Diverse, successful, attractive towns are fewer and farther between in the North than in the South where it's not uncommon to see towns with representative populations of people of all races rather than the 98% white towns you see in the suburbs of Northern cities. Again, just my own observation and I do realize that there are some very diverse areas that are also attractive ie., Ann Arbor, Madison WI.
Southern towns are well known to have a history of segregation. Most Southern cities where designed in which Black communities resided south of the railroad tracks. That concept still exists today in many Southern cities.
The key difference is the the Northern cities had a much more diverse economy and did not rely upon farming for their subsistence. The South relied upon the farming and textile manufacturing which required large amounts of human physical labor in the form of slavery. Therefore, the racial tension in the South was considerably higher than the North for these reasons since white southerners required large numbers of Blacks to be subservient to them in order to maintain their economy. Over the years this created a racial divide that cannot be matched anywhere else in the country. It is unfortunate that Southerners are in denial about their history when these facts have been well documented over the years.
I actually thought the OP's rant was going in the direction of all the fanatical CHRISTIANITY in the South. And yeah, a lot more of it than any other region of the country.
That has contributed to the racial divide since the Southern Baptist Convention openly opposed the Civil Rights Movement and issued a public apology in 1995 regarding it. The majority of people in the Southern United States are Baptist.
If the public opinion polls are correct about level of opposition to the NYC Mosque site, it just proves that this Country has a very long way to go. The sad truth is, tolerance, acceptance and respect continue to be sorely lacking in our society.
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
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Quote:
Originally Posted by azriverfan.
The Muslim world is overwhelmingly composed of peaceful individuals who are not violent. That being said, the Muslim world contains a disproportionately higher number of terrorists that base their actions on religious principles than any other faith group. When the Muslim community is approached with this, they get defensive as opposed to taking a more proactive approach by admitting there is a problem and that it should be addressed. They will respond with things like "There are terrorists who were Christian and Jewish too" That does nothing to rectify the situation aside from creating more resentment and doing nothing to curb the growing violent fundamentalist population among them.
Similarly, the South responds in the same way. The overwhelming number of Southerners are not racist yet when approached about their disproportionately higher number of hate crime events, hate crime groups, history of racist events, history of electing openly racist politicians, they get defensive and claim the rest of America has the same problems. The rest of America has those problems but not to the same degree that is found in the South. And I think even Southerners are aware of this but unfortunately respond with a defensive retort out of some misguided sense of pride.
Neither actions benefit either community. I think the rest of the country would view the South differently if they stopped taking this denial approach and instead started working to correct those mistakes done by their predecessors regarding race relations. Similarly, Muslims would probably be embraced more if they more openly decried the actions of Muslim terrorists and took a more a active role in addressing the violent fundamentalist segment of their community.
The phenomenon of radical interpretation of scripture by extremist groups is not unique to Islam. Neither is racism or racially motivated behavior only endemic to the Southern states of America.
On another note, I live in NC, and most of the racism I encounter is through compliments that rely on negative assumptions. The "wow, you're so well-spoken for a black person" kind of racism. Where people will compliment you but it depends on the fact that they didn't expect to find a quality in a person of your race.
That kind of thing is still heard occasionally around here BUT seems to have diminished quite a bit since I was a child and heard it frequently. Of course, my childhood was the 70's and early 80's, that kind of thing was simply more prevalent back then.
I suspect a great deal of it has to do with locale. While we're supposed to simply eschew anything even remotely racist purely on principle, it's one of those areas where political correctness can get in the way of reality. I know that here on the border between the Midwest Bible Belt and the Rural South, racism is a volatile topic with a fast fuse. It's virtually impossible to even discuss -- which is a shame because discussion and exchange are the only ways these kinds of rifts will ever heal.
The question is where objective observation of certain unpleasant realities leaves off and racism in its worst prejudicial forms begins.
One of my favorite incidents occurred years before and I just wanted to hug the man for his blunt observation and practicality.
I work on the West end of town in a major metropolitan area, Louisville KY. It may not be LA or Chi-town, but being the 17th largest metro in the country IS still saying something.
This end of town is predominantly African-American. I see and hear lots of very interesting things.
One day while standing outside a local bank waiting for their doors to open, a group was slowly amassing, all African-American except for me. The doors were supposed to open at 0900, and 0900 came... and went. 0905... 0910... 0915, and still no open doors.
An elderly black gentleman huffed and said "I've had enough of this. I'm walking to the branch up the street. White folks run that branch! They say they open at 9:00, them doors is OPEN at 9:00!"
I began to laugh and he looked at me, smiling. "It's true," he laughed along with me, "But you ain't 'llowed to say it, are you?"
"No, sir -- I'm not and we both know it," I replied.
He shook his head and, turning to walk away, said loudly "The world done gone and got STUPID!" He was still laughing as he walked up the street.
Most southern folk live and let live. We tend to stick to ourselves and welcome outsiders. We could care less how you do it up North or anywhere else for that matter.
So with this said, Muslim thought is that of one of submission. Certain sects believe that not only will you fully submit but you will also live as directed. You will think as directed, you will do as directed, vote as directed, etc.,
From what I see with all of the Northern influx down south and the way they mostly act, maybe it is Northerners who have more in common
See, the above is a very absurd comment just as about as absurd as the original comment.
From serving in the Middle East I can tell ya that nowhere in America is it remotely close.
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Interesting
