General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Want to know why Obama is hated so much in the South? See 12 Years a Slave [View all]mnhtnbb
(31,386 posts)the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the consequence of the Dred Scott decision.
Yes, of course, all states have racists.
There is more to my post--and the movie--than the harsh reality of life as a slave.
There is a combination of attitudes, behaviors, religious beliefs, and
methods for exerting control, dominance, and subjugation of an entire group of
people based on their skin color that was primarily identified with the south.
My point--and if you haven't lived in the south or visited relatives in the south or spent
time in very rural areas of the south you may be at a disadvantage to believe this--is that although the struggles of the Civil
Rights era brought about more equal opportunities and an end to many overt
practices of discrimination, it did not end the contempt that many white southerners
have for African Americans. Oh, they may have learned to keep their opinions to themselves,
but many--especially older white southerners who have lived their entire lives in the south--
have never been disabused of the notion that they aren't "better" than their black neighbors.
The movie gives a window into that frame of mind.