A word about racism and the South

[Brian Sweat]

Some people like to claim that people are just as racist in the North as they are in the South. I grew up in North Florida. North Florida is about as Southern as you can get. I moved up North for about 5 years and then I moved back down to North Florida. When I got back down here, I was in shock at the amount of racisms. In the south, racism is like the humidity. It is everywhere and it gets all over you.

People up North maybe racist, but at least they keep it too themselves. They don't naturally assume that everyone thinks the same way they do. Down here racist assume that everyone feels the same way, so they are not affraid to speak their minds.

[Iris]

1. couldn't you have just added this to the other anti-South thread?

I mean what are we supposed to do if we live here. We live here. We can't change the way some people are.

And are you just talking about racisim in regards to black people? Because if you haven't noticed there is some severe anti-immigration propoganda going around this country and not just in the South. NPR just did a report on it yesterday.

[Brian Sweat]

5. No, racism in general.

A popular saying here in is, "Will the last American leaving Miami please bring the flag with them."

[Bake]

2. As a recent transplant to Mississippi

Jackson, MS, to be specific, I was pleasantly surprised at how much progress has been made here in the South. I grew up in Tennessee, and I can tell you, it was extremely racist there. I expected things to be pretty much the "stereotype" here in MS. I was wrong. I actually think there is less racism here than in Cincinnati, a so-called good midwestern city. We get along here. In Cincinnati, you've got the cops who shoot first and ask questions later when it comes to a black suspect, followed by days of racial tension and occasional outbreaks of violence. I haven't seen that happen here. I'm sure there are problems here, just like there are everywhere. But I think the South has made a LOT of progress and doesn't deserve the stereotype anymore.

Bake

[pnb]

3. And that somehow makes them less racist?

Please, that doesn't make sense at all.

I grew up in the north and moved to the south 3.5 years ago. First, I have to disagree with one thing...I heard the "n" word far more often on Long Island than I do in Georgia.

Second, the north is far worse as far as segregation. People in the north may claim to be less racist when blacks "stay in their own neighborhoods," but they'll be the first ones to call the police when they see a black man walking down THEIR street in their all white neighborhood.

[Iris]

4. ah - you answered one of my questions!

Which was - "Do white people in the north NOT move to certain neighborhoods because 'the schools are good'?"

[Brian Sweat]

6. No,

Certainly, there are racist people up north, but it is less indemic and as a result, people who hold racist view know that they have to keep it to themselves because they know such comments will not be welcome. In the south, the have no such fear. It is we who are offended who have to keep it to ourselves.

[pnb]

8. I don't agree with that assessment at all

for reasons I mentioned in my last post. I saw enough segregation in the north (BTW especially moving to neighborhoods for 'better schools') that people used the words more.

White southerners, at least in my experience, are actually MORE used to dealing with blacks than many northerners.

Another issue I have is that even if your assessment were true, why would make the south worse than the north. Many blacks would actually prefer to be called a n-----r to their face than have somebody pretend to be nice and then call them behind their back. At least you know where you stand that way.

[Iris]

12. so, what do they do? Send their kids to private schools?

Because my family comes form up north and I don't see a whole lot of difference in some of their attitudes than I see down here.

[beanball]

7. Our unloved racists

Racism in America is a fact of life,why deny it? ,its all over America,it has been here since 1492,its a sickness that has caused pain and grief than all the wars this country has engaged in since it was founded(stolen).

[Kamika]

9. uhm

As an asian american i have abslutely never been subjected to racism in tx.

ALtough i am forced to agree there is a widespread if not racist then atleast not especially good feeling towards mexicans

[kcwayne]

10. Racism all around

I have lived in California, New York, Virgina, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Texas.

Of all the places, California was the least racist, although it certainly was there because my father is a true cracker redneck, and he still has alot of people he calls friends there. He only associates with people with his same rediculous world view. He moved out of California because "it was infested with Japs, niggers, and spics" (a real humanitarian)

When I was shopping for a house in Wisconsin (Milwaukee), when I mentioned the neighborhoods I was looking at my co-workers commented, "Thats a little dark there, hey".

My mother lives in North West Wisconsin, and they absolutely detest Indians up there. (There is a Chippewa reservation in her area).

In New York, people in my neighborhood (Brooklyn and Bronx) hated Puerto Ricans and blacks.


In Virginia, they especially hated blacks (this was in the days of whites only counters and rest rooms)

In Texas, they hated blacks, Mexicans, and Methodists.

In Illinois and Indiana white people hate blacks, and as more Latinos move in, the hatred is expanding to them too.

I belong to a golf club in Indiana, where most of the members are professionals. They make stupid racists comments constantly, but are extremely two faced in that they would never say these things in the presence of blacks or latinos. They really hate democrats and liberals.

In my experience, racism and stupid people are everywhere. There are differences in how it is expressed, but it is always there.

An interesting (to me) side note about my father. He was born on a Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma. My great grandfather lived there, and my grandmother was of mixed blood (Irish and Cherokee). My grandparents were migrant laborers and stopped at the reservation in their travels so my grandmother could give birth to him. Both my grandmother and my father were/are racists of the worst kind. Neither have Indian features (she had red hair), so they passed for white. But I have never understood how they could be so blind to their racism given their life circumstances.

[Dirk39]

11. One possible explanation

In the USA, being the melting pot it is, the relative peace between the "non-black" Americans might somehow use "the blacks" as an opposition. Compared to them, all the other people are "white". And this might even enhance the racism among people, who are aware that somehow they are "strangers" too. The more they separate themselves from "the blacks" the more "white" they become.
When I was in the USA for a longer time, I never noticed racism there (o.k. I'm white), but one of my friends in Cincinatte, a black girl, later left the USA because of the racism there.
But what kind of racism is happening in everyday life?
In Germany there is still a lot of racism too, esp. in the former communist eastern germany. Although according to a friend of mine, who's mixed,it wasn't like this, before the wall came down. But in most big cities here, you hardly face any kind of racism. At least the racists seem to shut their mouth here in everyday life.
Greetings from Germany,
Dirk

[Fleshdancer]

13. Racism exists all over the country

I've lived up North and I'm currently living in the South right now (TX) and my personal take on it is that I prefer when racism is out in the open because you know automatically who the stupid people are.

What is more damaging: A group of uneducated idiots who run around in white robes and pointy hats and protest, or the district attorney who never makes a racist comment but is more prone to going after minority offenders? Or the banker who approves more loans for white people than black people? Or cop who engages in racial profiling?

Not openly discussing racism doesn't make it go away, it just institutionalizes it in a way that, in my opinion, is more damaging to society in the long run. But that's just my take on things.

[DemBones DemBones]

14. Not only that, but in the South, a person who makes overtly racist

comments is quite likely to also be a person who gets along well with blacks at work, wouldn't hesitate to help a black person who needed it, and wouldn't do any harm to a black person. A lot of bigots are just mouthing off because they feel that the system has shafted them and they're looking for a scapegoat. They need to figure out who their real enemy is: the cheap labor conservatives that have gained so much power.