Unless you're from the South, it's hard to understand how monumental this is [View all]

[misanthrope]

Sure, there was initial disappointment at the razor-thin margins by which Republican candidates seemed to win the gubernatorial races in Georgia and Florida on Tuesday. That's perfectly understandable.

However, embers of hope have been fanned as recounts ensued. There's no guarantee either Georgia's Stacey Abrams or Florida's Andrew Gillum will emerge from the process victorious but Democrats shouldn't despair at all. They should be pretty damned happy.

The fact a pair of African Americans, one a woman, came this close to winning statewide election in the Deep South is astounding. It would have been irrational to expect a result like this as recently as 15 years ago. Unless you've spent decades in the region, it's hard to fathom or understand how deeply embedded racism is in its culture.

Maybe it's the influx of transplants, or "outsiders" as they're too often called. Maybe a culture that worships conservatism and condemns progressivism is finally leaving the past a half-century after being forced to dismantle Jim Crow. Whatever it is, these recounts would seem to indicate something primal could be changing in the South.