What this is all about is that the majority of Southern whites won't accept non whites as equals

[coldmountain]

What this is all about is that the majority of Southern whites and the cultures and politics they build won't accept non whites as equals. Racial equality barely wins a majority in most of the rest of the country (and yes there's racism everywhere) but it's a definite loser in the vast majority of the South and this won't easily change for a long time. Any progress that Democrats have made in the South is because of demographics in Virginia, Florida and hopefully Texas but NOT in changing the hearts of the vast majority of white Southerners.

When they wave the Confederate flag in front of the Obama White House they are warring against us and it's time we took the fight back to them. It's time for a worldwide organized concerted boycott of the South, defund them and embarrass them. Make their kids ask questions. Steal their jobs like they've been stealing jobs from the rest of the nation, instead of with cheap labor and weak regulation, use morality, modernity and the good parts of globalism. It's time to tie the dead chicken around this bad henhouse raiding dog's neck. Southern whites and other racists around America have to be made aware that what they're doing is wrong and now, unmistakedly, un-American.

Boycotting South Africa gave us Mandela and a new South Africa, it's time to take our country back from the Confederates.

Sorry, if I'm not being politically correct and hurting anyone's feelings but it's time to be blunt.

[dkf]

1. So why do they like Ted Cruz?

[coldmountain]

2. For the same reason they like George W Bush, Rubio and Ronald Raygun

Outsiders joining their team gives them credibility. Very white Cubans and Hispanics count as whites.

[dkf]

3. So they like non whites if they agree with them.

[cali]

14. Cruz IS white. How ridiculous to claim that someone who is latino

can't be white. Are the majority of Spaniards white? Yes, of course. Are you going to claim that Penelope Cruz isn't white?

[Cali_Democrat]

117. Cruz is white

Latino is not a race.

You're only confirming my belief that you've lived a very closed-minded life.

[nomorenomore08]

4. Cruz looks pretty damn "white" to me. Race and ethnicity are two different things.

[loyalsister]

26. True

Obama is not ashamed of his blackness. He embraces it. He gives a fist bump to the janitor. He let a kid feel his hair to let him know that he truly does share that difference.

Herman Cain blew the dog whistle with the other candidates.

Can you imagine Ted Cruz giving a fist bump or high five to a janitor, white or non-white? I wonder if he has less sophisticated family who has been paid to go into hiding. Can you imagine him having his picture taken with Cuban immigrants as they are sworn in as citizens?

[nomorenomore08]

122. "I wonder if he has less sophisticated family who has been paid to go into hiding."

Wouldn't be surprised at all. Gotta keep up the image of a Harvard man, right?

[Fumesucker]

5. Some of the reddest areas of America aren't in the South

But don't let facts get in the way of a good rant.

[Swede Atlanta]

7. Nice graphic BUT

What your map does not show is the impact of the red versus blue and purple areas.

The population increases in the past 40 years have been primarily in the sun belt states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas.

Those demographic changes affect the apportionment in Congress and the electoral votes.

So I suggest that the poster's original assertion that much of this has to do with race based on the deep "south" is probably not too far afield. It isn't the only source but it is a major source.

[Fumesucker]

16. Those population increases are largely in the metropolitan areas

Even in the South, highly populated areas tend towards blue rather than red for the most part.

For instance Stone Mountain GA used to be a rural site of Klan rallies fifty years ago and is now at least semi-urbanized, heavily non white and bright blue on the political map.

One of the major complaints of the white racists is that they are being demographically outnumbered by non whites, it's happening as much if not more in the South than anywhere else.

[Fawke Em]

38. Thank you!

I just sputtered venom, but you provided facts that support what I hastily posted and I appreciate it.

I'm tired of all the South-bashing threads.

Can't the DU administrators do something about that? I would assume that region bias is just as bad as any other bigotry.

[Sissyk]

52. They don't seem to be around to care.

And, they (admin) have some of the Host of GD so damn scared to lock anything.

There are GD rules for all, then GD rules that apply to one or two.

So, good luck with that. Have you seen ANYTHING that this poster writes that isn't just to stir up shit?

[cordelia]

63. ^^^^ This ^^^^

Bigotry is just fine here as long as it's directed toward the "appropriate" people.

[Thirties Child]

68. The Plains are more conservative than the South

I grew up on the Plains, have lived in the South most of my adult life, a lot of years. Judging the two by the people I've known, the people of the Plains are far more conservative, Also more rural.

We live in a far Northeastern suburb of Atlanta now; it's very much mixed race, our white neighbors vote conservative but are fine with the racial make-up. In fact the couple next door are mixed - she's white, he's black - and no one seems to mind.

I know racism must be here, but in 40 years I've only encountered it once. In 1968 I had a babe in arms, drove a black man from Philadelphia to look for an apartment for his family, was horrified when the people wouldn't open the door to us. I was far more upset than he was.

[wilt the stilt]

94. you live in Atlanta same as me

I used to sell cash registers all over the state. go to Macon or Rome and tell me that.

[coldmountain]

98. Go to Bremen, Toccoa, Cumming, Elberton, Columbus, Cochran, Chester, Montrose, Valdosta

Once you get outside metro Atlanta it's a whole other state. I remember a friend visiting me in Atlanta in the mid eighties and she stopped in rural Georgia for gas and said she was visiting Georgia for the first time by staying in Atlanta and the clerk said Atlanta really wasn't Georgia. The clerk was right!

[cordelia]

100. Mid 80s. Um, it's 2013. Things may have changed just a wee bit.

I was raised in a town adjacent to one of those you've listed above. By Democrats in the 60s.

They instilled in me the liberal values I and siblings hold today. Along with a lot of other people in that town.

Once again, you don't know what you're talking about. Just full of hate and bigotry.

[wilt the stilt]

111. I have been to all those places

and it is different.

[Uncle Joe]

143. I've always thought that regionalism and racism are kissing cousins if not twins.

Hate provides simple answers to complex questions, the advantage is it doesn't tax the brain which makes spouting B.S. much easier.

The disadvantage is, the brain is like a muscle, it atrophies faster and at a younger age when you don't use it.

[RebelOne]

108. I live in the Atlanta area, actually just northwest of Atlanta.

I am in Woodstock. There are not very many blacks here, so I have not seen any incidences of racial discrimination.

[wilt the stilt]

121. over here in Norcross

I used to sell cosmetics fro Max Factor and that was one of my stops. I know woodstock well. A good friend of mine nephew runs the painted pig in Canton. Go there some time. the food is very good.

[coldmountain]

134. Gwinnett County is one of the most diverse places in the United States,the rest of GA, not so much

"As of 2010, Gwinnett County had a population of 805,321. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 53.3% white (44.0% non-Hispanic white), 23.6% black (22.9% non-Hispanic black), 2.7% Korean, 2.6% Asian Indian, 2.0% Vietnamese, 3.3% other Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 8.8% some other race (0.3% non-Hispanic of some other race) and 3.1% from two or more races. 20.1% of the population was Hispanic or Latino with 10.7% of the total population, most being Mexican.[7] Gwinnett is the most racially diverse county in the state of Georgia, and one of the most racially diverse counties in the country.

There were 202,317 households out of which 42.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.20% were married couples living together, 10.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.70% were non-families. 18.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Self-reported same-sex unmarried-partner households account for 0.61% of all households. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.28.

In the county the population was spread out with 28.20% under the age of 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 37.50% from 25 to 44, 20.30% from 45 to 64, and 5.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 101.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.10 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $60,537, and the median income for a family was $66,693. Males had a median income of $42,343 versus $31,772 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,006. About 3.80% of families and 5.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.90% of those under age 18 and 5.50% of those age 65 or over."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwinnett_County,_Georgia

I would bet since 2010, it's even more diverse.

[wilt the stilt]

140. Norcross high is very diverse

and obviously you probably know a powerhouse in basketball. 4 pros from Norcross high. My daughter was a cheerleader. Both of my kids are at UGA. Now that is not a very diverse place.

[gopiscrap]

9. That's an interesting map

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. It's an area map, not population weighted. Here's one that is. Country is more blue than red:

[Fumesucker]

17. And some of the reddest areas on that map aren't in the South either

Your point?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. The facts of the map I linked doesn't get in the way of your point.

It is simply a more realistic representation of this blue nation, more blue than red.

The area map has the unintended effect of making the redness of the elected representatives seem normal.

I suggest that people use the population-weighted map in preference to the area-weighted map. This is the article where they are located: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/

[Fumesucker]

21. I suppose I expect too much geographical knowledge of Americans

It's obvious to me that the blue areas on the map I linked to for the most part correspond to areas of higher population density.

The map you show is interesting and does make the point but I'm not sure it's any easier for people to wrap their heads around than the other one, it's a bit too warped to that easily recognized as the USA by many people.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Showing map is one way to get people to think more & increase geo-politico-demographic knowledge. nt

[coldmountain]

49. THE RED ON THAT MAP SURE LOOKS PRETTY SOUTHERN TO ME!

In fact if you took the the Southern states and Mormon states out, there wouldn't be much red at all.

Segregation doesn't necessarily mean racism and much segregation is economic. Just because many whites live in the same counties as minorities doesn't mean they're not racist.

[snooper2]

51. you are losing your touch...

just FYI

[Bernardo de La Paz]

55. Please don't shout. nt

[coldmountain]

60. JUST WANT TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THAT MAP THAT DEVASTATINGLY MAKES MY POINT!

The Republicans have become a regional party whose base is in the Confederacy with help from Mormons and predominately white rural areas around the country that sympathize with their goals.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

62. If everybody were as egoistical as you about their "point", there'd be nothing but shouting.

Please don't shout.

If your point is not convincing, then shouting makes it less convincing.

[coldmountain]

80. I come out of advertising, caps are just differentiation to me, I don't see "shouting" as bad

Most of my work is in caps. BTW, there's plenty to differentiate the South from the rest of America and the world.

From the South's beginning in the Constitution, it's been about making blacks less than whites. They were left off when Reconstruction faltered and they're being left off again with this Xtreme court decision to undermine the Voter Rights act.Until Southern racism is dealt with we will keep fighting these battles over and over again.

[Fawke Em]

150. Horseshit.

I'd say bullshit, but this stinks more.

The South was empowered to do what it did with the blessing of OUR forefathers.

Get over your big, bad self.

[NuclearDem]

115. Actually the deepest red seems to be Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.

The South looks pretty damn purple by those standards. Restrictive voter laws keep the South red.

Throw in Utah and Wyoming, and it seems the deepest red is not to be found in the South.

[2naSalit]

119. And to add to that

I have lived in Idaho and Montana for the last couple+ decades and there sure are a lot of confederate flag wavers up here and lots of them aren't LDS folks - who may be racists but don't wave the confederate flag. In fact, there sure are a lot of transplants from Texas and you see that state flag up here a lot too.

[coldmountain]

126. Metro Atlanta has more votes than the western states you're complaining about

[2naSalit]

127. ...and your point is?

[coldmountain]

137. All those red areas out west don't have that much clout is the point+ Mormons

It looks pretty on a map how red the west is but Gwinnett county has more citizens than Wyoming. Plus rural voters in most places have picked up and identify with many of the bad aspecs of Southern culture and religion like Southern cities often mimic the rest of the US or even Europe but once you cross those beltways, it's a whole different game.

[JI7]

6. one non southern white (you could say orange) GOPer has the power to end this

but he is too much of a coward and cares more for his position . i don't say power since it's clear he doesn't actually use his power in that position.

[coldmountain]

53. Metro Cincinnati is kind of Southern like Northern Virginia is now kind of Northern

[LuvNewcastle]

8. You really think that's wise?

You think the best way to deal with divisive rhetoric from politicians is to become divisive yourself and alienate the southerners who are on your side, or at least are apathetic? I'm glad you aren't a strategist for the Democratic Party.

[cali]

15. the op is factual. I just read a piece- can't remember where-

about these demographics and the southern districts that are majority white in a big way that elect so many of these radical tea folks.

[LuvNewcastle]

32. It doesn't give all the facts. Besides, what are Democrats supposed to do,

boycott the teabagger districts and leave the others alone? It's ludicrous. What about the red districts outside of the South, will those be boycotted as well? That's just a prescription for building more animosity.

Howard Dean was getting things accomplished in the South when he was chairman of the Dem. Party. He didn't get things done by organizing boycotts. We want to build the party in the South, not do all we can to turn people off even more. If the GOP shatters like many of us think it will, the Democrats are going to have a chance to move into parts of the South and other areas and get a foothold. Let's not blow it.

[Bluenorthwest]

36. That's cute rhetoric! The South boycotts me, so feel free to go save it yourself.

Each of the Southern States has law allowing discrimination against LGBT people in housing, employment and the selling of goods and services. That shit builds up plenty of animosity, friend. Not to mention the sermons from DUers in those States who try to claim they are just like Blue States. They are not.
Anyone going into the South for a 'foothold' needs to be straight. The laws will destroy others.
But I understand that folks love their homophobic and discriminatory traditions and culture more than they love other human beings.

[Fawke Em]

39. Funny. My Southern city just gave gay couples the

same rights (administratively - healthcare, family leave, etc.) as straight couples.

But, don't let facts hit you in the ass.

[cordelia]

43. Cute rhetoric? Bullshit.

[carolinayellowdog]

45. people love their homes and families and friends more than strangers who hate them categorically

I'm going to have to put you on ignore now, having seen you jump into thread after thread with this line. As a gay man it's especially disheartening to witness such relentless hostility against total strangers based on what state they live in.

[LuvNewcastle]

59. There's a lot of gay people in the South, but some people

like to pretend that we don't exist or they act like they're gayer than we are or something. It's a snotty and bigoted attitude.

[Jamastiene]

65. Lesbian in NC here.

I feel hated by the homophobic hatemongers and looked down on by others in the GLBT community because I am from the south. Hate from every direction: it's a no win situation, if I let it bother me. I have decided not to let it bother me any more. Bigotry is bigotry. It is truly their loss because they are too busy looking down their noses at us to get to know us.

[LuvNewcastle]

83. I'm in Miss.

Don't let the bastards get you down. I don't have time for people like that in my life, no matter if they're gay or straight. It's a damn shame that we have to deal with that shit in our own community, and it's so ironic that they accuse people they don't even know of bigotry. One thing we all know from living in the South is that you can't judge others by superficial circumstances. You never know who you're talking to until you get to know them. Take care.

[kentauros]

66. I don't know how accurate this is, but some years back

on the local Pacifica station KPFT, one of the LGBT shows stated that Houston's LGBT population was the second-highest in the nation, after SF. One of my friends from the time talked about how the LGBT community in SF often snubbed Houston for media limelight, especially for the Pride Parade here, one of the largest of its kind. Seems like it's also the only one held at night.

[LuvNewcastle]

84. I wouldn't be surprised if it's true.

There's a very large 'gay section' in Houston and Houston is one of the largest cities in the country. I've had some good times there. I haven't been there in so long....maybe it's time for a road trip. It's about an 8 hour drive from here, not too bad.

[kentauros]

90. I'm not good with long-distance driving,

so good luck with your trip

Have a look at The Houston Press to catch up on things. There's always something going on here

And if you want the best falafel in town, go to Zabak's (Westheimer at Fountain View)

[cordelia]

61. Thank you.

The hypocrisy and hatred amaze me.

[coldmountain]

56. The world's silence rewards let alone allows Southern bigotry, institutional or informal

They're at war with us and we just won't acknowledge it. There should be a movement to ban the various Confederate flags as hate speech.

[aikoaiko]

92. And there we have it -- the appeal to ban speech. This is who you are.

Classic but-its-for-the -greater-great-good authoritarian trolls always reveal themselves so easily.

[coldmountain]

109. So you see the Confederate and Nazi flags as speech?

[aikoaiko]

113. Yes, of course.

[coldmountain]

156. When whites are a minority someday, the Confederate flag will be banned as hate speech

[aikoaiko]

160. And now you think nonwhites want to trash the first amendment

Your vision of the future is warped.

[coldmountain]

161. Germany banned the Nazi flag and nowdays they're a better nation than this one, especially the South

[AnotherMcIntosh]

30. x2

[treestar]

42. Why would liberal white southerners by alienated?

They are more likely to run into the racists in their midst, who are statistically more numerous in that area.

[1monster]

10. I live in a very red area, and there is some racism, yes. But the kids are not, for the most part

racist.

I cover lots of race relation issues in school, both in history and literature and the reaction of the students of all colors, shades, and tints when we talk about Jim Crow laws, segregtion, or the Three Fifths Compromise, is bemused disbelief. "That's stupid!" is a common reaction.

[Laelth]

24. Precisely.

Demographics and the cultural attitudes of the newer generations are killing the GOP. A lot has been written about the demographic changes, but the cultural changes are equally important. Race-baiting, gay-baiting, and subtle misogyny don't work as well as they used to, and, in a generation, they will hardly work at all.

What will the Republican Party do?



-Laelth

[jtuck004]

11. The link below contains an article worth reading - and don't let the

pictures of "Support Are Veterans" fool you into thinking that they are all ignorant, or don't have a viable plan that could make life miserable for a lot of Americans the next two to three decades, which means for most adults alive today) regardless of who is elected where. And perhaps an even worse outcome than that.

On the other hand, given climate change and a completely different world economic situation than existed even 50 years ago, I don't know that the plan above would result in anything much better, although there are some pieces of it that should be addressed.

Because we are still all fighting like field hands on a big plantation owned by the corporations, and until we free ourselves from that this all works to our owner's advantage, regardless of the outcome.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023793915

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. Cannot rec. Boycott would not get traction and would be counter-productive if it even did. nt

[aikoaiko]

18. Great. Another South hater.

More diviseness won't lead to unity.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. +1

[karadax]

27. How about another naval blockade too..

+1

[AnotherMcIntosh]

31. +1

[Sissyk]

57. It's what they want though!

OP's like this help divide us just as we were all pulling together.

Agenda?

[madinmaryland]

136. I don't know about the OP, but fuck the southerners who still worship the confederacy.

And the Northerner's who also worship the values of Jefferson Davis.

FUCK THEM ALL and may they go straight to hell.

[fasttense]

19. I am white and I live in the South

And I can attest the MAJORITY of white Southerners Are NOT Racist. About a third of the white population are very vocal racist and the other 2/3 are afraid to speak up. Southerners, especially poor ones, have been taught to keep quiet and go along. They must give the appearance of pleasantness and never say no. They have been ingrained with this need to present a false front of pleasantness to the world that the word no is carefully avoided.

Many a salesman can tell you about arriving at a home where the occupants had gladly agreed to a visit, only to find the family gone. Better to just not be there then to have to tell the salesman NO. Passive aggression is very carefully cultivated among Southerners, especially among those who are poor. And frequently that false facade breaks down into hostility.

There also seems to be a need among Southerners to gang up against any outsiders. It doesn't matter if it breaks the false pleasantness or not. If one nasty Southerner is being confronted by an outsider, you can bet all the other Southerners will join in harassing that outsider no matter who is in the right.

Unfortunately the 2/3 that is non-racist allow the vocal minority to scare and intimidate them.

[bemildred]

25. Correct.

You live in a rigged economy and a rigged political system. Not in any way that is sensible, mind you, but rigged it is in favor of, well, the people it's rigged in favor of. The basic theory seems to be that rigging itself is a good and necessary part of democracy and capitalism.

All southern people know it's expensive to talk back to the man. Political rights are a cosmetic effect.

So, YOU need to take your country back. We did it here in California, you can too, twenty years ago this was a red state. Now we are everything they hate. And it is great to have your state back.

[HereSince1628]

28. There is stiff segregation in the NORTH, which also has more low diversity counties

Last edited Tue Oct 15, 2013, 09:16 AM - Edit history (1)

Segregation isn't a north-white issue.

The reality is the northern latitudes of the lower 48 states are where most of the greater than 79% white counties are located. Wisconsin is such a state. It's easy to ignore the reality of segregation if you live in a fringe suburb with very little racial diversity. It doesn't mean the attitudes that produce segregated neighborhoods is absent. It just makes it easy to point to urban areas and say 'those people' suck up all our tax dollars as if poverty isn't an outcome of segregation itself.

Census records show that in America whites live in neighborhoods of lower than average diversity. Many northern cities have strongly segregated neighborhoods. And Milwaukee is one of the most segregated.


http://www.censusscope.org/us/s31/chart_race.html

[Puzzledtraveller]

29. Facts?!, We don't need no stinking Facts!

Why are you trying to douse the flames of our phony outrage?

[cordelia]

33. Another divisive and useless post. You've become quite tedious.

Anyone who has bothered to read your posts knows that you hate all Southern things and all Southern people.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

46. I hear somewhere on the internet someone snapped a pic of him

sneaking out of KFC with a 12-piece bucket.

[RZM]

47. Heard the same story

But in this version it was actually Krystal.

[TroglodyteScholar]

34. You'll never be happy with this country if...

...you allow yourself to believe that all the nation's problems asst isolated to one region. Sorry to break it to you via txt, but there are racists and assholes everywhere.

[carolinayellowdog]

35. intermarriage, voting, and segregation data all undermine your thesis

First, interracial marriage stats flatly contradict your generalization. From the Pew Research study The Rise of Intermarriage:

Intermarriage in the United States tilts West. About one-in-five (22%) of all newlyweds in Western states married someone of a different race or ethnicity between 2008 and 2010, compared with 14% in the South, 13% in the Northeast and 11% in the Midwest. (end quote) This however combines various kinds of interracial marriage, and it turns out that for black/white intermarriage, the West is lowest, the South highest: 2.3% in the South, 1.6% each in the Midwest and Northeast, vs. only 1.1% in the West. These regional generalizations obscure specific state variations, most notably that #1 in black white intermarriage is Virginia; #2 North Carolina, the only two states over 3.0%.

Here is the percentage of the white vote received by Obama in 2012 as calculated on the dailykos, lowest to highest.

MS 0.1
LA 0.105
AL 0.133
GA 0.145
OK 0.148
UT 0.167
SC 0.197
AR 0.218
WY 0.23
TX 0.234
TN 0.243
AK 0.245
ID 0.277
KS 0.294
NC 0.308
NE 0.31
KY 0.311
AZ 0.314
WV 0.317
SD 0.34
VA 0.344
ND 0.347
MO 0.348
IN 0.361
FL 0.374
NV 0.378
MT 0.38
OH 0.418
NM 0.422
MD 0.426
PA 0.443
CO 0.445
MI 0.448
CA 0.451
DE 0.456
IL 0.458
NJ 0.462
MN 0.48
WI 0.48
WA 0.482
IA 0.492
OR 0.494
NH 0.503
CT 0.518
NY 0.519
HI 0.535
ME 0.548
MA 0.559
RI 0.589
VT 0.664

While it is certainly true that the lowest percentages are in the Deep South states, as a Virginian I see us near the national median, between North and South Dakota, higher than Utah, Wyoming, Alaska, Kansas, Nebraska, Arisona along with several southern states. Florida is better yet on this measure.

On the subject of residential segregation, here are the racial dissimilarity index rankings, specifically black/white; I give the 20 most and 20 least segregated as of 2010. Dissimilarity is the percentage who would need to move to attain random distribution, if I understand correctly:

1. Gary, IN 87.9
2. Detroit, MI 86.7
3. Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI 84.4
4. New York, NY 84.3
5. Chicago, IL 83.6
6. Newark, NJ 83.4
7. Flint, MI 81.2
8. Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY 80.4
9. Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, OH 79.7
10. Saginaw-Bay City-Midland, MI 79.1
11. Nassau-Suffolk, NY 79.0
12. Johnstown, PA 78.8
13. St. Louis, MO-IL 78.0
14. Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN 78.0
15. Birmingham, AL 77.4
16. Kankakee, IL 77.3
17. Gadsden, AL 77.1
18. Philadelphia, PA-NJ 76.9
19. Bergen-Passaic, NJ 76.8
20. Benton Harbor, MI 76.6
...
294. Clarksville-Hopkinsville, TN-KY 41.7
295. Anchorage, AK 41.4
296. El Paso, TX 41.1
297. Santa Rosa, CA 41.1
298. Cheyenne, WY 40.5
299. Modesto, CA 40.5
300. Billings, MT * 40.3
301. Albuquerque, NM 40.0
302. Lewiston-Auburn, ME 39.4
303. Fort Walton Beach, FL 39.1
304. Corvallis, OR * 39.0
305. Enid, OK 38.8
306. Medford-Ashland, OR 38.3
307. Yuba City, CA 38.1
308. Eugene-Springfield, OR 37.9
309. Fayetteville, NC 37.8
310. Boise City, ID 37.1
311. Redding, CA 37.1
312. Boulder-Longmont, CO 36.7
313. Lawton, OK 35.2
314. Missoula, MT 34.9
315. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA 34.4
316. Lawrence, KS 33.6
317. Yolo, CA 31.8
318. Jacksonville, NC 31.7

Since Virginia doesn't make either the top or bottom 25, I ran just the state, which shows considerably disparity but general tending towards the middle:

1. Richmond city 68.3
2. Roanoke city 68.3
3. Portsmouth city 62.0
4. Norfolk city 57.5
5. Chesapeake 52.6
6. Charlottesville 52.4
7. Suffolk city 52.0
8. Lynchburg city 51.2
9. Newport News city 50.3
10. Hampton city 47.4
11. Danville city 46.2
12. Alexandria city 46.0
13. Petersburg city 42.6
14. Virginia Beach city 41.4
15. Leesburg town 38.0
16. Manassas city 29.2
17. Harrisonburg city 25.0
18. Blacksburg town 17.5

for the few who value information and analysis over polarizing, hatemongering false generalizations.

[cordelia]

44. Thanks for compiling this.

[coldmountain]

64. You devastating help my case by listing the percentages by state of white voters for Obama

You think this helps your case? This isn't going away any time soon without major intervention from outside.

MS 0.1
LA 0.105
AL 0.133
GA 0.145
OK 0.148
UT 0.167
SC 0.197
AR 0.218
WY 0.23
TX 0.234
TN 0.243
AK 0.245
ID 0.277
KS 0.294
NC 0.308
NE 0.31
KY 0.311

[coldmountain]

110. WHITES IN THE NORTHEAST VOTED 3 to 5 TIMES MORE FOR OBAMA THAN WHITES IN MS, GA, LA and AL!

And you think this makes a good case for you? These numbers are damning evidence of what I'm saying, southern white racism is crippling our nation and we basically already have a cold Civil War going on and only one side is fighting.

[Phentex]

130. WHAT STATE DO YOU CURRENTLY RESIDE?

Maybe I could move there.

[Fawke Em]

37. Getting fucking sick of the South bashing.

The fucking mid-West is far more fucking Republican than nearly anywhere in the South.

To be blunt.

[Dawgs]

40. Fucking right.

And not just the Midwest.

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and others all currently have Republican Governors that are destroying their states.

Those are state wide elections, so those losses can't be blamed on certain districts.

[coldmountain]

76. Many northern Republican politicians are more liberal than southern Democrat politicians

Many northern Republican politicians are more liberal than southern Democrats or at least are able to portray themselves that way. Think Obama hugging Chris Christie could get elected in the South?

[Dawgs]

82. LOL. Scott Walker is such a big lib.

Give me a break.

[Fawke Em]

163. And Steve Cohen of Tennessee is a DINO...

LOL... not.

[kentauros]

41. Getting mad at the haters and venting is good.

Gets it out of the system for a while. Until the next hate-fest comes along in another few days.

People on DU have been hating on the South ever since the inception of DU. If this were a police-beating scenario, we'd be a smear on the pavement with the cops still jumping up and down on us, forever berating our continued existence. They won't be satisfied until either we're gone, or they are.

This morning I've been contemplating the idea of a "bait" thread, in order to compile a list of haters

[coldmountain]

70. Really? Can you defend that position?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/160196/alabama-north-dakota-wyoming-conservative-states.aspx

[Dawgs]

86. I can't defend the original post, but you really don't have a great argument with ND.

They are second on your list and most definitely in the Midwest.

And if the Midwest is not conservative, why does ALMOST EVERY Midwestern state have a Republican governor?

Only 3 out of 12 (25%) have Democratic Governors.

[coldmountain]

146. North Dakota is in the Great Plains and with 1 congressman is close to irrelevant

Talk about governors all you want but almost all those actual Midwestern states voted for Obama at least once.

[Dawgs]

151. So, ND is not in the South then?

And, according to Wikipedia it's in the Midwest.

Also, you don't get to pick and choose which election results you like. If an entire state continuously votes for a Republican Governor that causes it harm then it's ALL THEIR FAULT; not because of your opinion of the South.

[coldmountain]

154. People in Dakota thinks it's a great plains state that agrees with the ex-Confedracy a lot

Gee you go me for 1 Congressman. Now what about Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas. Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma? The Yankees have taken Virginia and really at this point have Florida as well.

[Dawgs]

159. Uh, the point is that it's not ONLY in the South, like you want to believe. n/t

[RZM]

48. Ok then. Get right on that

I'm sure your one man/woman boycott against all things southern will do wonders. You can start by throwing away all your Young Jeezy records.

[Sissyk]

50. It's always interesting to see

who recommends a trolls OP. Not saying you're a troll or anything, just that it's interesting.

[raccoon]

54. Take out the "Southern". what state are you from, by the way?

Remember many non-southern states have neo-nazi groups, want to create their own white community, etc.

[carolinayellowdog]

58. AMEN! my family is biracial and I can think of far worse places than the border states

Have lived briefly in Michigan and Ohio, as well as Alabama and Louisiana, and all four were far more racially polarized than Virginia and North Carolina. More segregated, more acceptance of hate speech among whites, most of all a kind of coldness and social distance that I found unnerving.

There are the same deep structural racial issues here as anywhere, the same history of oppression, but the norms of civility are more stringent and and the genuine warmth and mutual respect seems greater as well. As a person of mixed ancestry myself, involved with an organization devoted to celebrating and studying mixed ancestry groups, I find far greater interest and support in border states than anywhere else in the country. Subliminally if not consciously, people understand (even if they don't want to) that after 400 years we are all related. I don't get a bit of that feeling in either the Deep South or the Midwest, but my time there was long ago so perhaps things have changed.

[coldmountain]

67. Ohio and Michigan voted for Obama twice, Virginia is basically a Northern state now

North Carolina is almost purple. Go live in rural or even suburban Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and tell me how wonderful that experience is. Hell, if you tell people you listen to NPR they think you're a gay Al Queada commie sympathizer.

[Dawgs]

87. Ask OH and MI how those Republican Governors are working out for them.

You're ignorance is unbearable.

[carolinayellowdog]

88. Martinsville, Danville, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Lexington, Radford are NOT northern cities

Nor are Covington, Emporia, Franklin, or Staunton. But Obama carried all of them twice. As a native of Hampton Roads, I would say most people there consider it southern, and Charlottesville is arguable. I'll grant you Fredericksburg and points north. Richmond is very southern in bad urban ways-- don't care for it at all because of the snotty conceited white people. Eric Cantor drips class disdain in a way that would prevent him getting elected from any of the redneckier parts of the state.

The Midwesterners and Deep Southerners can speak for themselves; my impressions are out of date at this point but the stats still look bad to me.

[coldmountain]

74. Southern Poverty Law Center map shows no lack of hate groups in the South Tx, Ga, Fla lead nation

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map

BTW, the northern numbers include the Nation of Islam and many northern and mid-western hate groups are motorcycle and prison gangs.

[raccoon]

81. You still haven't answered my question. nt

[moriah]

93. "More" assholes doesn't mean a "vast majority" of assholes.

And I'm not sure if you really want to discuss actual causes and ways to try to make changes in following generations views of race, or if you just want to engage in hyperbole and hate on a region because some assholes decided to wave a flag that they really should have been wiping their asses with.

Again, I say it's a very vocal minority. And they piss me off. Greatly.

[Jamastiene]

69. How do you explain this map?

http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_nhblack.html

[coldmountain]

71. The more predominately African American counties a state has the more Republican the whites are

[Jamastiene]

78. The majority of the African American population lives in the south.

Way to miss the point. And no, you are incorrect. The county next to my county and my county are roughly 60/40 African American and 40/60 African American and both counties ALWAYS vote for the Democratic Party overwhelmingly.

But thanks for missing the point. You are so full of hatred that you cannot stop and look at basic facts. Just always remember that when you hate the south you are also hating the majority of the African American population as well. Skin color does not change the fact that they are southerners too. You really need to stop and think about that instead of feeding your poisonous hatred for southerners, many of whom are African American and many of whom are on DU and support the Democratic Party. But, don't let the facts get in the way of your bigotry. You just keep on feeding your hate. Bless your heart.

[cordelia]

72. He/she can't/won't.

[Glitterati]

73. No, WHAT this thread is about is coldmountain bashing the south again

It's coldmountain's hobby.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[coldmountain]

91. And Jesse Jackson. Rachel Maddow the New Republic, Salon, Daily Kos, Alternet, Slate, etc

I'm hardly the only one connecting Southern racism and chauvinism with the problems in our government

http://realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/10/09/jesse_jackson_gop_is_the_resurrection_of_the_confederacy.html

http://blogs.orlandoweekly.com/index.php/bloggytown/old-confederacy-new-tea-party-government-shutdown/

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115172/confederate-flag-white-house-intellectual-history

http://twitchy.com/2013/10/08/jesse-jackson-traces-racist-government-shutdown-back-to-the-confederacy/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/14/1247086/-Patriots-Cruz-and-Palin-rally-for-the-Confederacy-or-something-about-the-Republican-shutdown

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/08/ex_gop_insider_unloads_blame_neo_confederate_insurrectionists_for_shutdown/

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/federal-shutdown-driven-gop-secessionists

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-republican-party-is-becoming-the-new-confederacy?cid=rss

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_spectator/2012/10/is_the_republican_party_racist_how_the_racial_attitudes_of_southern_voters_bolster_its_chances_.html

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/10/failing-lib-st-louis-post-dispatch-attacks-republicans-as-racist-confederate-rebels/

[Glitterati]

95. Like I said, just more coldmountain south bashing

*plonk*

[enlightenment]

75. When you start tossing around words like

"the vast majority of", you need to include the statistical proof to back it up.

Maybe you're right - maybe you're not - but your opinion doesn't mean jack all without something to back it up. Why would any sane person jump on your boycott bandwagon and attempt to reignite the Civil War?

[coldmountain]

99. We have the Confedrate flag being waved at the gates of the White House with a black family inside!

I would say the cold civil war has been going on for some time and lately it's become dangerously worse.


This Study Said the South Is More Racist Than the North

"Is it the government's submission that the citizens of the South are more racist than the citizens of the North?" John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, asked that in February during oral arguments over the fate of the Voting Rights Act, a 1965 civil rights law. Donald Verrilli, the government's chief lawyer, said no. Not surprisingly, the Obama administration was not willing to assert that citizens in Southern states were statistically more likely to hold racist beliefs. Without making such a claim, though, it was harder for the government to defend the VRA's requirement that some states—but not others—seek federal approval (which lawyers call preclearance) before changing their voting laws.

The eight states that are required to seek preclearance are determined by a formula intended to pick out areas with a history of discrimination. (Places that go for 10 years without discriminating can escape the requirement.) On Tuesday, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to strike down that formula as unconstitutional. Here's the idea that led to that decision: If all states are equally racist (or not racist), why not treat them equally?

Certainly plenty of people outside of the South are racist, and plenty of people in the South are not. But here's the trouble: There's social-science evidence that, 150 years after the Civil War, Southern states do have bigger racism problems than states outside the South. And many of them are the same states that the VRA requires to seek federal approval before changing their voting laws.

The key study on this subject is new. In May, Christopher Elmendorf and Douglas Spencer—law professors at the University of California-Davis and the University of Connecticut, respectively—released a paper arguing that the list of states required to obtain federal approval under the VRA "remarkably" mirrors "the geography of anti-black prejudice" in the United States. "What we have generated," Elmendorf says, "is an answer to the question that the chief justice asked during oral arguments and [Verrilli] was either unable or unwilling to answer." The answer, they argue, is yes.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/south-more-racist-north

[enlightenment]

104. Yes,

I'm familiar with that study - which does not say that the "vast majority" of people in the South are racists. It is nuanced - which is something your post decidedly lacks.
You should probably read the study itself, rather than the very short excerpt in the Mother Jones article.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2262954
Click the "download" link to open the article as a PDF.

[raging moderate]

77. New York State was said to have a slave system that was just as bad.

Isn't that where that former slave had been held captive? Sojourner Truth I think it was. And one day, while she was hard at work cooking dinner for everyone, her two little children ages 3 and 4 were spirited out the front door and she was never allowed even to ask where they had been taken, and she was expected to just keep workng cheerfully 16-18 hours a day as though nothing was wrong, and she NEVER found out what had happened to them although she kept trying after she had escaped. And when slaves grew too old to work, they were frequently put into little hastily built sheds out in the woods and left to die alone out there. And New York State has nightmarish winter weather sometimes.

And there were places down in Southern Illinois that held slaves and treated them fiendishly, as if they were cattle or something. And probably other things I haven't even heard about.

It has been decades since I read about these things, but they still give me chills when I think about them.

[coldmountain]

114. New York whites voted 4 times more for Obama than Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana or Alabama whites

For some times have changed, for others not so much

[Baitball Blogger]

79. Well, duh.

But, it's not just minorities. There is a "plantation owner" mentality at play that affects everyone. They really do believe they are entitled to skip the rules in order to stay on top.

Locally, they have just become more sophisticated in their explanations to keep people off balance. For example, they can rally their own by claiming they have sovereign rule, which means that they can make local decisions, including zoning changes, without following state regulation. I cannot believe how this whole movement was allowed to work under the radar, thanks to the inactions of the local paper. In Orlando, they dropped the ball completely in the late nineties by not following a case that would have exposed the right-wing's evil intentions. It was a case that would have revealed an intricate conspiracy that was intent on challenging state zoning laws. Unfortunately for them, they were sued by a developer and their smooth transition fell part. The case turned into a huge mess for them, and it was settled with a two million dollar settlement and a confidentiality clause.

Because the local paper did not publish any information, their true intentions were never revealed and they were allowed to work silently through the legislature for the next ten years, voting in like-minds which eventually managed to kill the state's Growth Management laws in 2011. So what the couldn't do in the late nineties through the judiciary, they were able to do through the normal election process without challenge, since no one really understood their agenda.

This has been happening all around us since the Clinton witch-hunts in the late nineties. Right-wingers have been breaking down conventional understandings of the law in order to reach their objectives. They intend to keep their agendas on the top of this country's priority list, and they intend to be first in line when their pyramid scheme of redistribution begins.

[Niceguy1]

85. and you have met the majority

Of southern whites to know this?

I am done with DU for today....too much freeperville way of thinking for me right now.

[moriah]

89. When you have proof it's a "vast majority", I'll accept your apology.

I am as disgusted with the people who a suitable insult that's acceptable on DU does not come to fingers easily as you are, but when you say it's a "vast majority of White Southerners", I think you are exaggerating, and if you disagree, I'd appreciate some sourcing. Otherwise, you might as well be saying the vast majority of Christians are like the Westboro Baptist Church, which would be equally offensive and in my opinion equally incorrect.

Now, if you want to address the IMHO very vocal minority who do feel that way and not be so hyperbolic, I will be more than happy to discuss a very real problem and maybe try to shed some light as a White Southerner.

[coldmountain]

96. I lived in the South and North for almost 30 years each and have heard the whites talking

It's just political correctness not to say the majority of whites are racist in the south. Yes, there's racism from Marin county to Philadelphia Pa to Stockholm but the American South takes racism to the extreme. I've already talked to thousands of white Southerners and know exactly how a good cross section of them feel. I also know the corrosive effect Southern culture has had on the rest of the country.

My dad's integrated high school in Pennsylvania had a black class president, quarterback and integrated prom in 1950.

[cordelia]

103. You sound as bigoted as some of those people at another

web site that comes to mind.

Their blind hatred for liberals is reminiscent of yours for the South - cold and dank - like the bowels of a cave.

[coldmountain]

147. Hey, I actually have many Southern friends from allover and most agree with me about Southern racism

They live in the liberal enclaves like Asheville or inside or around the perimeter of Atlanta. I know many small town Georgians who hate it, feel suffocated by the anti-intellectualism and wished they could move but family or jobs hold them. Most African Americans and Mexicans I know love Atlanta but are scared outside the perimeter or much north of Gwinnett.

It's ironic how some bring up how the north is segregated but I've found many rural and even suburban Southerners are scared to death to go inside the perimeter in Atlanta. They think they need to bring a gun and are scared someone will gay marry them or talk to them in Spanish, Ebonics or something. I'm not hyperbolizing, these people are scared to death of Atlanta, some of it's the 12 lane highways but much of it is the fear of other races and types of people. Many of the younger people have been brainwashed by their elders, by Neal Boortz. El Rushbo and Faux News. There's quite a bit of alienation among rural young people in the rural South, the economy is quite bad in many of these areas and there's little hope of advancement, many hope to be LEO's or prison guards while other fall prey to oxy, meth or have children right out of high school. It's much like that Kacey Musgrave song, " Merry-go-round"

[moriah]

116. And I grew up in Arkansas, in Little Rock, and went to Central High.

I understand you have a difference in perspective insfoar as you've lived in Northern states more than I have -- I only spent a year in NYC (and loved it, though I missed nature badly.)

The reason I mentioned generations is that I've seen a great deal of difference in how each generation has dealt with our history here. My grandfather? For his time, he was very liberal, but looking back now I'm still deeply ashamed. He was a Mason, and judged by some of his peers in that group for his business practices. He sold goods door-to-door on credit, and sold in both poor white and poor black neighborhoods (while the interest he charged was well within Arkansas usury limits and equal to both groups, I'm sure the prices were also equally inflated, but though they lived well my grandparents both worked and were from Depression-era farming stock so didn't feel the need to acquire luxury beyond a house and a car, Granny made most of their clothes). He said he thought desegregation would have worked better if they integrated the younger kids first, instead of the high schools like they decided to do -- that when people grew up going to school with each other they'd be more tolerant. My grandmother never really spoke up about political issues, but she worked as a seamstress and had many black colleagues, who when I was growing up came over for supper often and we always shared garden produce with them like we did with the other people they knew who gardened.

At the same time, he didn't like my mother to have her black friends over when she was young (she was born in '51) and would not let them into his office. He didn't want any of the kids in there, really, but he was more worried due to the color of their skin. Mom didn't tell me about that until I was grown and he'd already passed away (he died when I was 12, and we lived with them from the time I was 3), and when I was young he had no problems with any of my friends. I wish I could have asked him why he had that immediate assumption, that prejudice, that someone would steal from him because of their race.

However, in my generation, I think my grandfather's view that when kids were growing up together things would be different has shown promise -- and my mother's generation had many good people who tried to teach the kids like me down here to overcome the racism that was still prevalent around us while we were growing up. My father started out in the redneck racist side of the house very badly, and by the time he died he'd improved a great deal. Even my mother's attitudes, which were pretty liberal for even her time to begin with, have improved. When I was growing up, she said she didn't care who I dated but she thought that mixed race children ended up suffering from a lot of prejudice and she'd hate to see her grandchild treated badly by society (kind of the way she told me that it was normal and natural if I was attracted to girls, that we had a cousin who was a lesbian and isn't she sweet? and she'd love me just the same, but that she really hoped I wasn't because it was a challenge in today's society and she'd hate to see me suffer from the prejudices of others). She still doesn't have any grandchildren, but another one of our cousins married a black man and she has said nothing but how adorable their little girl is -- gone on quite a bit about it, actually... she really wants grandkids.

My grandfather died in '92. My grandmother died last year. My mother is in her 60s, I'm in my 30s. My dad died in 2009.

The vast majority of the people *I* associate with down here do not show any racism they may have internalized growing up here and seeing the attitudes of grandparents and more backward people of prior generations. I think as the older set die off, attitudes will improve.

Mind if I ask if you still live down here?

[coldmountain]

106. Look at these numbers of whites by state who voted for Obama

MS 0.1
LA 0.105
AL 0.133
GA 0.145
OK 0.148
UT 0.167
SC 0.197
AR 0.218
WY 0.23
TX 0.234
TN 0.243
AK 0.245
ID 0.277
KS 0.294
NC 0.308
NE 0.31
KY 0.311

The South was less than half what the rest of nation did!

[moriah]

118. Now, let's see numbers for Southern whites who voted for Kerry....

http://www.southernstudies.org/2008/11/election-2008-did-southern-whites-vote-for-obama.html

I'm ashamed to be in one of the three states that did have a statistically significant drop in the number of white voters who voted Democratic in 2008 compared to 2004.

[coldmountain]

125. Pretty damning of Southern racism isn't it? It went backward in 2012 didn't it?

Last edited Tue Oct 15, 2013, 07:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Can't defend the South anymore, it's going backward. It needs an intervention.

[moriah]

138. Still, that's not saying the "vast majority" are racists.

6% of Arkansans may have shown their racism -- the difference between Kerry and Obama.

And three Southern states is far from the "vast majority" of states.

[Sissyk]

142. I, for one, thank you for trying, moriah.

I'm pretty sure nothing will get through to coldmountain because they don't want to see.

[coldmountain]

149. I see almost solid South waving the Confederate flag and having "massive resistance" against Obama

?uuid=423191c2-1b1f-11e3-96f6-00212876b3fc
It seems unthinkable that any group would decline $833,000 in federal funding. Yet Cardon Outreach, a Woodlands, Texas-based organization, did just that—returning its chunk of $67 million the federal government set aside to guide uninsured Americans through getting coverage under the Affordable Care Act. They refused the cash after Republican congressional representatives and the Oklahoma insurance commissioner put a gag on what these “navigators” could discuss with consumers during enrollment. Cardon’s lawyer Chuck Kable worried that their ability to help would be so limited, navigators might actually discourage frustrated consumers from enrolling at all: “Are you providing a disservice to the individual by taking them halfway and then saying, ‘Sorry, I can’t go any further?’”

The ongoing political hostility to Obamacare—most recently taking the form of the government shutdown—is having the greatest impact on consumers living in states where elected officials are opposed to the law. Twenty-seven states—many of them led by Republicans—refused to set up their own health exchanges entirely, leaving them to the federal government to take care of.

But some states have taken their protests a step further and launched legislative battles and lawsuits. Oklahoma, for instance, is currently suing the federal government, claiming that awarding premium subsidies is unconstitutional in states with federally run exchanges (if it’s successful, the suit would effectively prevent an exchange from operating there at all, experts say). “The federal exchanges are really swimming upstream in these states,” says Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University who is studying health exchanges.



http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obamacare-a-different-law-in-red-states-2013-10-09

[Raffi Ella]

97. "...it's time to take our country back from the Confederates."

You're not hurting my feelings, but you are sorely misguided. The South was pretty much ceded to the Confederates after the Civil War, the US pretty much did boycott us or at the very least left us on our own to figure things out -

That's WHY we are like we are today.

What needs to happen is not a boycott but for the Democratic Party to come back to us and fight for us, with us! Obviously, we can't do it all on our own. This new voting rights gutting and the gerrymandering etc, it's more than the average citizen can overcome on our own or even collectively with the way things are.

We need Democratic Leadership in the South.

[HooptieWagon]

101. I don't think the majority of southern whites are racists as you claim.

Can you cite a reference?

[carolinayellowdog]

105. Here is some very striking visual evidence that it's an AMERICAN problem

The Geography of Hate is an intriguing website that derives color coded maps from tweets using derogatory ethnic, homophobic, racial, and disability-related words. Unfortunately, when I try to copy and paste links to the maps racial terms, the system defaults to homophobia instead. But one can click on the top to check various hate speech. As for homophobia, with the n-word, almost everything between the 100th parallel and the Hudson looks bad. Click on the n-word, and you see lots of anomalies to consider-- why are Mississippi and Arkansas so much better than Alabama and Texas? Western New York so much worse than New England? Northern Virginia more hateful than southern? (that was a real surprise.)

[coldmountain]

135. Using tweets would be biased against the technology impaired, not a good representation

Similar to not polling cellphone user now or people in 1948 who didn't have phones.

[YoungDemCA]

129. There is no reference

Just broad-brushing and stereotypes.

[haele]

102. I suspect it's more about a loud-mouthed minority of Southern whites - maybe as much as a quarter -

and about half the remainder willing to be lead by the nose by the loudest voices talking to them - no matter how hateful - because they don't pay too much attention to anything outside their immediate world and already have a vague sense of defensiveness whenever they hear the "elites" talking about them rather than to them. From what I can tell, the majority of people in the South normally wouldn't care one way or the other.
Problem is, the Rush Limbaughs, Glenn Becks and Sarah Palins of the world know if they sound like they would be willing to be these people's neighbors just like those "simple" people are now, they've got their loyalty.
Because these people are convinced that the "elites" won't want to just be simple neighbors, the elites would want to improve the neighborhood, open the neighborhood up to other folks (white, black, or green) who aren't the same and otherwise run their lives instead of leaving them alone to play in their own reality...

Just as in the anti-bellum South. It was the slave owners and those who made money off slaves that pushed succession; but the armies of other whites who followed them were reacting to "those folks up North don't respect us" and "they want to change our way of life" - even if the those following the slave owners were dirt farmers or unemployed craftsmen (who were continuously losing work to skilled slaves!) on the verge of starving.
Or they were following them because waging war against the other was the only "job" where they were getting paid fairly regularly and getting respect from family and neighbors because "they're protecting their homes from the other"
Just like now-a-days, with an uncertain economy and lack of jobs.

It's pretty clear this "crisis" was planned by a small group of wanna-be plantation owners who can't think beyond their own interests.

Haele

[coldmountain]

112. Southern whites voted 2 to 5 times less for Obama than northern whites did! This is a fact!

[Raffi Ella]

120. Where is the Democratic Party's responsibility in that?

You write an OP all about how racist the South is and your solution is to abandon us? to hand the region over to the racists, aka reThug Teabaggers?

We can't go back and do it all over again but we can fight for the South now. All the information out there about Southern statistics speaks for itself, we are in dire straights in the South; How dare the Democratic Party not fight for its Southern citizens! and how dare YOU call for a boycott on us.

Racists are racists where ever you go. That racism is deeply ingrained in Southern culture and is blatantly used by Republicans who are tied to the Church and goes unchallenged by the Democratic Party here is the real problem. When people are hurting and scared they "cling to their guns and God..." The right wing voice is deafening down South and it's the ONLY voice they hear!

I'm not saying Obama should come here himself because I do think it's too dangerous for him here, but the Democratic Party needs to take responsibility for the South. Democrats, Americans, need to step up to the plate and take the South on and help us, not boycott us.

[coldmountain]

123. The South abandoned the Democratic party out of racism!

The long goodbye

Is the white Southern Democrat extinct, endangered or just hibernating?

AFTER President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he reportedly turned to his press secretary and lamented that Democrats “have lost the South for a generation.” Johnson's judgment was optimistic. Despite brief flashes of strength during the presidential elections of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Democrats—particularly white Democrats—have been losing ground in the South for half a century.

In the Congress that passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the eleven former Confederate states—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia—had a total of 128 senators and representatives, of whom 115 were white Democrats (see chart). In 1981 Republicans took control of the Senate for the first time since 1953, but most Southern elected officials remained white Democrats. When Republicans took control of the House in 1995, white Democrats still comprised one-third of the South's tally.

This year, however, it seems that white Southern Democrats have met their Appomattox: they will account for just 24 of the South's 155 senators and congressmen in the incoming Congress. The delegations from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina held only white Democrats in 1963; when the new Congress convenes next January, they will have none. Georgia was also once a Democratic stronghold—in 1981 its House delegation's lone Republican was a fresh-faced young history professor called Newt Gingrich—but this year Republicans won every statewide office. Democrats do well in black and Hispanic-dominated districts, the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, and the university-heavy areas around Raleigh, North Carolina and Austin, Texas. Otherwise the South is largely red.

http://www.economist.com/node/17467202

[YoungDemCA]

128. The historical record shows that it took an awfully long time for Southern whites...

...to become majority-Republican in voting.

A lot of it is because the South is becoming more like the rest of the U.S., not less.

[coldmountain]

131. Thats because they had Democrats like George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Zell Miller to vote for

I disagree the South is becoming more like the rest of the United States. Much of it is getting more racist.

[klook]

139. Not where I live, pal

John Lewis is my Congressional rep. And I'm a white Southerner, born and bred; have never voted for a conservative in my life and never will.

But hey, don't let people like me mess up your worldview.

[coldmountain]

145. I met John Lewsi at the Picadilly at Ansley Mall

Saw him coming out and thanked him for his service.

Ansley Mall's closer to Amsterdam Netherlands than most of the South

[klook]

152. Cool - so here's a crazy idea...

What if, instead of bashing the South as a hopeless cesspool of ignorant hicks, you devoted more of your talents and energy to strengthening the progressive power emanating from those Little Amsterdams (and Little Harlems) -- those "Blue Dots" inside the belly of the Red Beast? What if we all worked like hell together to turn more Red counties Purple, and more Purple counties Blue?

What if we lit more candles and spent less energy cursing the darkness?

[coldmountain]

157. I tried that for a long time. The only thing that will work is demographics and boycotting

When whites are a minority in most of the South, America will be a better place. Isn't that sad but deny that it's true.

[Stay calm buddy]

144. Was that much worse than John Kerry's vote among southern whites?

Or the same, or almost the same?

[YoungDemCA]

124. You are very wrong if you think this is merely a "Southern" problem...

Also, "un-American"? The United States-North and South-has a long and dark history of support for racism, white supremacy, and imperialism.

The "Founding Fathers" were very much opposed to/fearful of democracy, which is part of why we have such a conservative political system today-their legacy lives on in the structure of the American government.

[coldmountain]

133. From the founding fathers to Obama,the South has had a different relationship with African Americans

From 3/5ths in the Constitution to the recent reeling back of the Voting Rights act

[coldmountain]

158. Can anyone deny America will be a better place when whites are a minority in the South?

[ileus]

132. Gong on you....

Nice theory of hate.

[Stay calm buddy]

141. "they wave the Confederate flag in front of the Obama White House"

What proportion of whites in southern states showed up in the White House with a confederate flag?

[coldmountain]

148. I DARE ALL YOU SOUTH DEFENDERS TO GO INTO A SMALL TOWN SOUTHERN BAR AND SAY GOOD THINKS ABOUT OBAMA!

FILM AT 11! I'd like to surreptitiously video what happens.

[Redford]

153. I live in the South and think the OP

Is making an ignorant argument. Assuming people are prejudiced by location is well, prejudiced. And you would most definitely lose the fight if you brought it to us. Some of the most racist people I have ever known were from the North.

[coldmountain]

155. Northern state whites voted for Obama 3 times more than Southern state whites. EXPLAIN THAT?

Racism maybe?

[blue neen]

162. I guess you haven't spent much time in western Pennsylvania lately.

You'd be quite amazed at the number of Confederate flags hanging in peoples' homes, "decorating" their pickup trucks, worn on t-shirts.

Racism doesn't need a designated place; it raises it's powerful hateful head anywhere ignorance is allowed to take hold.

Your "blunt" OP serves no good purpose on this board, IMHO.