The Good Ole South

For some reason, northerners seem to think the south is this big conglomeration of racist bigots

It might be a wild stab in the dark, but do you think this derives from the American civil war?
 
I think that the fact that the people in the south used to OWN black people and well into the 20th century used to lynch black people and prevent them from voting and they made it illegal for whites to marry black people is a good reason why people have the opinion that folks in the south are racist bigots.
 
AnyOldIron said:
For some reason, northerners seem to think the south is this big conglomeration of racist bigots

It might be a wild stab in the dark, but do you think this derives from the American civil war?
Click to expand...


Also because its sorta the truth, less now than in the past, and not so different from the north... but it is true that there are tuns of racist bigots in the south.

I lived in Alabama for 4 years. I heard plenty of things against black people that I was often shocked were said. I know specifically of many black people being intentionally excluded from events and places. Its amazing what racist bigots will say when they are in the company of someone they wrongfully assume agrees with them.
 
Jarod said:
Also because its sorta the truth, less now than in the past, and not so different from the north... but it is true that there are tuns of racist bigots in the south.

I lived in Alabama for 4 years. I heard plenty of things against black people that I was often shocked were said. I know specifically of many black people being intentionally excluded from events and places. Its amazing what racist bigots will say when they are in the company of someone they wrongfully assume agrees with them.
Click to expand...

I spent a couple of years working all over the south. And you are sure right. Rascism is still alive and well in the south, the volume is just turned down.
I caught all kinds of heck from southern white co-workers for going into a "black" convenience store to get a pack of cigarettes. The blacks inside the store even acted as if this was a rare happening, but were nice.
 
How would I have been able to tell?

I walked into a KKK owned store in Virginia... As soon as I saw the sign I gaped in awe then turned, as soon as I got my jaw up off the floor, and left as quickly as I possibly could...
 
uscitizen said:
I spent a couple of years working all over the south. And you are sure right. Rascism is still alive and well in the south, the volume is just turned down.
I caught all kinds of heck from southern white co-workers for going into a "black" convenience store to get a pack of cigarettes. The blacks inside the store even acted as if this was a rare happening, but were nice.
Click to expand...

I was called a ni**er lover because some people found out I voted for President Clinton.
 
In my area here, the most outspoken bush supporters were also the most prejudiced against blacks. The N word was in common useage among them.
Well those bush supporters do not say much about politics lately, but the N word still flows from their lips along with all the stuff you would expect from a rascist.
 
I once invited a black guy to a party at my fraternity in Alabama, you would have thought I invited Ossama Bin Ladden over for tea.
 
Yeah I know the feeling alex. It is pretty funny (in a sad kinda way) to watch the reactions though, people trying to be cool and are really afraid or repulsed, but trying to act cool...
 
I love watching hypocracy exposed. When Majic Johnson admited he had AIDS, all those guys who thought only gay people could get it were shocked. That was in Alabama also.
 
AnyOldIron said:
For some reason, northerners seem to think the south is this big conglomeration of racist bigots

It might be a wild stab in the dark, but do you think this derives from the American civil war?
Click to expand...

I don't know, it doesn't make any sense if it does, the Civil War was 150 years ago, and it didn't have anything to do with racism. I think it has more to do with closed-minded intolerant bigots, who have adopted a stereotype of Southerners, and refuse to let it go.
 
AnyOldIron said:
For some reason, northerners seem to think the south is this big conglomeration of racist bigots

It might be a wild stab in the dark, but do you think this derives from the American civil war?
Click to expand...

You will notice in my post I included the North in asmuch as bigotry and racism are not solely the purview of a far too many southerners. Certainly there are pockets of white supremecists in North, one of the most dramatic examples was the Aryan Nations Compound in Northern Idaho. It was finally bankrupted after they were sued after some members shot a couple of Native Americans who were driving near the compound. But if you go to the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center, @ www.splcenter.org, you'll see that even though hate crimes are increasing against African-Americans, gays, Latinos, and Arab-Americans in the North there are still people committing many more of these crimes in the South. In addition, the truth is that the most bigoted commercials are still either made by Southerners or are mostly run in the south. The most infamous bigoted commercial made by Republican Party in the last 30 years was that made by Lee Atwater for the Bush I campagin against Michael Dukakis. Alwater, who hailed from South Carolina, was a mentor of Karl Rove. In the commercial a black convict Willie Horton, is shown in shadow moving through a revolving door. Horton, a convicted murderer, subsequently committed a rape while on a furlough from a life sentence in a Massachusetts prison. The commercial was used to show that Dukakis was soft on crime, even though Dukakis, who led Bush by 17 points when the commercial appeared, had nothing to do with Horton's furlough which was mandated by Massachusetts's law. Bush went on to win the election and Atwater spawned a whole generation of Republican dirty tricks operatives including the current king of such tactics, Bush buddy and adviser, Karl Rove.
 
I don't know, it doesn't make any sense if it does, the Civil War was 150 years ago, and it didn't have anything to do with racism. I think it has more to do with closed-minded intolerant bigots, who have adopted a stereotype of Southerners, and refuse to let it go.

The US civil war had nothing to do with racism? Wasn't slavery a prime cause/excuse for it?

The fact that it was 150 years ago doesn't affect people's opinions.

We haven't fought the French since the mid C19th yet we still have the animosity. The Battle of Glen Coe was centuries ago, yet the Scots still go on about it.

Also you have the modern history of institutional racism in the south, with lynchings and the KKK et al.

You're right, it'd be a bigotted person who tarred the whole of the south with the same brush but you can also see why that impression comes about.
 
Many Southern people still harbor resentment toward the north regarding the Civil War.

My grandfather used to tell me stories about how evil and bad the Yankees were. I once brought a girlfriend to meet him, she was from Boston. He called her a damm Yankee.

That resentment has been carried on through generations, its finally starting to fade, but it has taken generations... Even my grandfather tried to instill it in me! He used to tell me how his mother would collect sowards from the battle fiend and use the yankee ones as a fire poker. I still have one my grandfahter left to me.

My grandfather was a kindly racist, by that I mean he was always kind and friendly to black people but he clearly thought of them as less intelegent childlike people. He treated them as he would a child, not an adult and thus was a racist. He would never had harmed a black person, just like he would never harm a child. Those prejudices take generations to erase. My point is that just because the civil war was over 100 years ago, does not mean there are clearly lasting resentments and hatrids lingering. They are fading but not as fast as many might think.

I had a frind from Cincinciti visiting me in Alabama. A girl I knew from Montgomery was over and we were all sitting in a room having a normal conversation. The guy from Ohio left the room for something and she asked me where he was from. When I told her she bristled and said I could tell there was something wrong with him!
 
It is not just in the south. About 15 years ago while working in Chicago. A customer found out I was a demoncrat and remarked "only blacks are democrats up here."
 
This girl gets paid plenty to perform in Cirque du Solie and swing back and forth on a trapizee.
 
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