After Jared Williams was elected Augusta DA, a lawyer and state lawmaker made an unusual proposal: that the whitest county split from the circuit
After Jared Williams was elected Augusta DA, a lawyer and state lawmaker made an unusual proposal: that the whitest county split from the circuit
…more than half of all Black folks in the US live in the south. Georgia alone has over two million Black folks living there (hi, I’m from Georgia and I’m Black!) I’m Southern. My whole family is Southern. I’m the first generation who didn’t grow up on a farm. This isn’t my damn culture. Don’t erase us in your zeal to smugly dismiss the South, when there is not a single damn state in America that didn’t have a sundown town.
Yeah, I wasn’t talking about black people or black culture. I meant more that the racists are gonna stay that way unless war starts down there again, but this time they just all get killed off so there is no one left to spread the culture.
But half the South is Black. By just referring to “Southern culture,” you’re both completely erasing half the population in many places and reinforcing the idea of white as default. Call it what it is: evangelical white Southern culture. Don’t let the real identity of the folks being racist dipshits get erased.
Yeah, that’s pretty close to what I was thinking: racist white Southerner culture (not to be confused with racist white Northerner culture). I just call it “racist white” because evangelical sounds religious to me, and I’m pretty sure other religions/denominations are racist too, so I wanted to be more inclusive & just lump all the racist white southerners together.
But if you wanna get into it… southern culture IS white culture. It may have been heavily influenced by other ethnic groups, but it was built by white people for white people, and even more specifically, Christian white people.
Do you remember Kunta Kinte? Cause every time I hear black people say southern culture is black culture I hear Kunta saying “yes massa my name is Toby.” It’s the culture you have, but your culture was stolen & erased generations ago, and now you defend the culture of the slavers.
White Southerner here. Southern culture is NOT all white, and most of us are actually aware of that.
When I think of southern culture I think of southern hospitality and sweet tea, neither of which are limited by race.
I’ve lived on 3 continents and every culture has individuals that are racist. By far the worst was when I lived in a homogeneous Asian country - people felt the constant need to stare and comment (and because I’m white they were trying to say NICE stuff) and it made me so uncomfortable. I have no idea what it’s like to be black, but I got a glimpse of how people will made dumb assumptions about you based on your skin.
The biggest key to defeating racism is melting the pot further - which the South is doing. Yes, there are plenty of racists here, and plenty of racists communities, but I can guarantee you they exist elsewhere too. Fighting it only happens when we confront it.
John Oliver did a great bit on school segregation that goes into how racism isn’t a Southern issue.
I’ve been around too, and the place I felt the most uncomfortable was every time I’ve been in the South, specifically around the white people in the South.
The “southern hospitality” comes off fake as fuck btw. I’ve seen the confederate flags. I know how y’all vote. I see your representatives & what they say.
When y’all think southern culture y’all think hospitality & sweet tea: I think Try That In A Small Town by Jason Aldean, voter suppression, lynchings, and Emmitt Till.
To be honest, I think it’s easiest to feel sentiments like “There is no racism anymore” when you’re in a completely homogenized culture. eg, a Japanese person living in Japan, or a white person in Poland (the latter was a common critique for the monoskin designs of The Witcher). Those people don’t ever even need to confront the question of racism.
In a way, that at least means the ideological “war on racism” is only being fought in multicultural areas like the South - where minorities at least exist. It’s harder to identify whether that means it’s “worse” than other multicultural areas.
I feel similarly about the flags. At worst, I try to remember that even if 10 people on a street fly confederate flags, it’s likely some of them wish for slavery, while others just have jaded, disillusioned ideas that it vaguely represents independence and national pride.
Sorry… where do you think soul food comes from? Who created it? Is that not part of a unique culture?
And then there’s other things dominated by Southern black people. Zydeco music in Louisiana for example. Most Zydeco musicians are black. Isn’t that part of a Southern black culture?
I’m not black, I’m not Southern, but I can recognize unique cultural elements when I see them.
Soul food comes from slavery.
Does that make it not part of a unique culture?
Yes, part of white southern culture. That’s where the slavery sits, inside of southern culture. How’s it hard to understand that? I get y’all wanna separate yourselves from the slavery, but you can’t. You can’t talk about southern culture without slavery being within arms length.
…yeah, THAT’S not really insulting at all.
Evangelical + white + southern = racist. White + southern =/= racist. Evangelical + southern =/= racist (because black people can and are evangelical).
Also - dude, it’s super racist (and misogynistic!) to be telling a black woman what her own experience is. You might want to reconsider that.
Aren’t you assuming I’m not black also though?
Are you saying this as a black man, Mr. Browning?
I’m mixed
Awesome. It’s still insulting af.
Holy racist bullshit, Batman!
Block and move on from this one folks