That never were.
You know, I am a woman, I am white. I grew up in the state of NY.
My family was also poor as hell. We were poor because my father decided (read: had the choice) to try to live off the grid and off the land. I wish I was joking here, but I'm not. My dad, always a republican, realized that his union work as a construction worker wasn't going to pay the bills.
So in 1978-9 he found a job with the NYS DOC. (also known as the prison system) -- We moved to upstate NY. For some reason, my father looked at this as an opportunity to start to live off the 'land'. (I was about 9-10 at the time, the oldest of the three of us) Me and my two sisters would soon find out that we would be the ones that would be dad's farms hands.
it wasn't a farm. It was a 1/4 acre garden and I helped Dad build a small barn so we could raise pigs. Our jobs were this:
After school, feed compost to the pigs, and then an hour of picking rocks no smaller than a 50 cent piece.
I could go on. I'm not looking for sympathy, what I am saying is that when some people long for the good old days, it's not a good thing. My dad wanted to recreate the good old days, to this day he doesn't understand why I think they were shitty.
I know this is probably way different from the OP, but I'm telling you, as the oldest of three girls -- and having learned an awful lot from living up and down the east coast -- the good old days aint all that.
There is a certain privilege that people don't realize that they are projecting. It could be honestly that White men are feeling the heat suddenly. I think that is part of the problem -- and I say that not excusing white women, to be honest.
What makes me more upset is that lack of acknowledgement that this op is something that is happening now -- still, 6 years after it was written.
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