The South

Racist against what?
People from the south? I find that hard to believe that southern people mostly all think the same way.

Hi btw and I edited this about 3 times

I dont know if it is true that people from southern america are more racist then anywhere else...

but I could be wrong.

it could just be a stereotype.. but stereotypes come from truth ( to a certain extent) so.. eh.

But the south used to be, when america was divided by war, pro slavery...

I don't know if they are more racist or if they feel more comfortable expressing racism. One may imply the other. I will say however that it is more socially acceptable, which says something about community standards.

T
K
O

Any white man or woman who has lived for many years in the northern states of the United States, and who is being candidly honest, will acknowledge that white folks in the North are commonly racist.

Why do people cling to simple-minded stereotypes?

I met as many racists in Brooklyn as I did in Texas.

Are they "so racist," or just racist enough to be like many in the rest of the country?

In my own opinion, and observation, the south might just demand a degree of social conformity that other parts of the country do not. So, it might be more acceptable to voice one's feelings about this or that when in the north; however, it might not be socially acceptable to voice those same feelings in the south.

The north was that way in the 1950's, in my opinion.

look, people suck everywhere you go.

except for my A2K friends of course. they are the salt of the earth.

Everyone else sucks.

I heard a lot of 'em swallow, too . . .

No, it's not. Most down here are just too non-confrontational to voice their disapproval at racist comments. We generally sniff and fidget uncomf0rtably and politely change the subject.

Racism is everywhere though...who can really say if there are more down here in the south?

Social that translates as more acceptable to me. Inaction is just as potent as action. I'm not saying that there aren't racists up north, I'm just saying that the one's up north blush.

T
K
O

no they don't, they deny.

That's my point. You wouldn't know they are racist most he time, because they don't have a poker face about it. Easier for the northern racists to keep in inside than express it openly.

T
K
O

Edgar - I gotta disagree- at least with the level to which that racism is allowed to be expressed.
I used to ask my dad (native Texan and just about as born and raised pure southern as you can get) when we were in Texas around all our relative, 'WHY are these people so racist?!'
I couldn't understand it - they were my FAMILY- but they would say the most appalling things in general conversation - as a matter of course, like it was totally acceptable. And I'd just stand there openmouthed - gasping for air- like I'd been hit in the stomach, because my father- the brother, son, uncle of these people had taught ME to believe the exact opposite of what I heard them expressing.
I mean, I know I was considered a yankee -(not technically - I was born in Texas so they forgave me my funny accent and habits- kind of - not really - they never let me forget I'm a yankee to this day- but hell- I'm PROUD to be a yankee) - but anyway- I just couldn't believe that these people who were where I came from were so different from me.
So I'd ask my dad and I remember very specifically what he tried to explain when I got a little older. He said:

'Rebecca, there's an old saying: In the south they hate the race but love the person. In the north they love the race but hate the person'.


I remember just looking at him and saying,'Whatever... but I know you're too smart to swallow such bullshit and so am I. These people don't love the person if they're talking about who he is like that.'
He said, 'Yeah - it's very complicated and confusing.'

There's racism all over - yes. But I'd never heard or seen it so blatantly expressed until I'd visit the south as a child, and then again when I chose to live there. I was always drawn to the south - it's where my people came from and there are things about it I love to this day, but I always find it very difficult to live there. It always feels more separate to me than where I grew up . There was an American woman over here talking to me about the 'Stars and Bars' the other day - I didn't know what she meant. I said, 'You mean the Stars and Stripes,' right?
She said , 'No Sweetheart - I mean the Stars and Bars - the REAL American flag - the confederate flag.'
I just sort of shook my head and walked away.
I think it's because it used to be legal to separate and express separatism there and they haven't gotten used to their right to expression of that being illegal.

But again, some of the most racist people I've ever met and some of the least racist people I've ever met are southerners and from the same family -MINE
So, who can say?

Maybe it's because segregation and Jim Crow were never legal in the north. People always had to keep it under their hat.

Having lived in both the north and south I'll say that expressed racism is a lot less sinister than the secretive racism of the north.

I worked with a girl for years and we were pretty good friends, after she left I learned that her husband was the leader of a very violent skinhead group. I found out only because she stole some negatives from my archive -- film shot of an anti-racism crusader and the portrait showed up on her husband's racist website. I was bewildered.

In the south I would have known she was a racist because she wouldn't have worked so hard to hide it.

The "South" meaning Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky (iffy), South Carolina, Arkansas...etc...

Have you been to each one of these states long enough to know that each one is racist as a whole? Do you know the people that live there? How can you make a blanket statement like that without having lived in each one of the places that is considered "The South"? Sounds to me like you lived up north mostly and some in Texas. Does that make you an expert on whether the folks down here really are or not? The area you are familiar with certainly sounds racist - but that does not mean it is all over the south. I'd say that there are areas that are more so than others...but no more than any other place in the world even. Racism is not just a North and South thing. Unfortunately it spans the globe.

My little time outside of this country was 6 weeks spent in what is called the "armpit" of Europe - Albania. Even within this small, poor country, they have racist attitudes toward the gypsies that live there. It did break my heart to hear them say that they felt about the gypsies like we did our black people. Except their black people were not a cool as ours. Twisted isn't it? Of course I also had to explain that while I was there that I knew no one from KKK - was not related to anyone and had no dealings with the KKK just because I was from Alabama. Trust me - the whole stereotyping issue is everywhere.

Having lived on various occasions for years in various locales in the American South, i can say without a doubt that the most irritating thing about the South is Moonpies.

The rest of this is just so much bullshit. The author of this thread and those who have made blanket statements about Southerners and their putative racist attitudes and propensity to express it reveal themselves as bigots. I was going to write "ignorant bigots," but bigotry by inference arises from ignorance.

Oh, and RC, too . . . RC and Moonpies.

I lived in North Carolina for fourteen years as an adult. In many ways I love North Carolina- for a long time I considered it my adopted home state. I married a black man from North Carolina.

He had never lived outside of the south until he was thirty years old. He was amazed at the difference in how he felt he was treated living in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maine, and New York- as in 'better'- 'less separate'.

We moved back to North Carolina after having moved up north for the first time in fourteen years after we had our children. We lived in Chapel Hill, which is about as close to cosmopolitan as you can get in North Carolina. Within three years - he was ready to leave. He had forgotten how differently race is viewed in the south as opposed to the north. He didn't want our children raised with the concept of race he had been raised with.

I don't know what to tell you - it IS different. Maybe not to you - but ask a black person who's lived in both the south and the north what they think.
I know that I felt much more comfortable with my family in the north than in the south - and so did they - my husband and my children.

There is a legacy of separatism. That cannot be denied. It really did happen.

And as far as Europe goes - my experience traveling with my black children and sometimes with their black father - is that nobody bats an eye. When I lived down south - people used to think I must have been my childrens' babysitter - I can't tell you how many times I was asked whose kids I was babysitting for as if a white woman couldn't or shouldn't have black kids.
But you believe whatever you want to believe.

Well, not to be ugly or condescending - but that goes without saying.

I am just saying I don't think you can make those kinds of blanket statements without having lived everywhere...maybe North Carolina is different than other places. I cannot say - since I have very little experience outside of my own area...and as you say - I am white. My experience would be totally different.

As far as Europe is concerned...I was talking about my limited experience in Albania - and their racism had nothing to do with our black people - but with their own gypsies. But they relate it - sadly enough to the United States racism.

Chicago was/is one of the most racist cities in the country. I lived most of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area. Racism was apparent city by city. San Francisco less so, Richmond across the Bay rabidly racist. My mother was a non-admitted racist and a Christian hypocrite.

During WWII, I lived among many people who moved from the South to the Bay Area for the abundant war jobs. I also lived near a Naval base and met hundreds of sailors from the south. Those assocations taught me a lot about southern people, some positive and some negative.

When researching where I wanted to retire, I knew I couldn't live in the South. Not just because of it's slowly fading racism remnants of legal slavery, but because of it's reputation as the Bible Belt. I looked for a climate that would be best for me. I also required that I live in a university city. Albuquerque NM provided these two important conditions. I have found the majority Hispanic Catholic population to be wonderful people who have been welcoming and exceedingly kind to me. The people that annoy me the most in Albuquerque are the White evangelists going door to door trying to force their religious beliefs on me. I have little tolerance of religious bigots. Hence my aversion to the Bible Belt.

The comfort I feel in Albuquerque may seem strange because of the common opinion that people tend to want to live among people just like themselves. They miss knowing wonderful people and different cultural experiences. Just don't bug me about religion and I'm happy about my retirement city.

BBB