So everyone in the southern US is a racist hick?

[duchaked]

Are you seriously wondering why the world pictures the south as a den of racists and backwards hicks?

Just look at the laws of your states.
Look at the politicians.
Look at the school districts and their teaching plans.
Look at Arizona right now with their newest anti-illegal immigration laws.

Come on dude. I know not all living there are like this but a good majority are.

Fix your backwards bible thumping government. Have evolution in your curriculum. Get some more human laws. Get rid of your pointless guns. Get rid of antiquated racist laws.

Then maybe the rest of the world won't point and laugh at the majority of the population of the south.

well technically no one's pointing and laughing as long as we're the ones pointing the guns =}

but no, seriously

I feel like all parts of America struggle with a bad history/stereotype

the South with its racism issues
the North with New Jersey...

okay I kid, but I think there has been a lot of good points made by people who seem to better represent the regions they've come from (I've lived anywhere between Virginia to New Jersey and Texas to North Carolina)

 

[dmase]

it depends on where you are in southern America

some places have become more saturated with northern migration =] lol

but in general I'd avoid stereotyping, I feel like the south overall (not the deep south) is known for its friendliness and hospitality, and really good biscuits and barbeque

not everyone down here waves a Confederate flag haha

(in the same regard, not all northerners are super pessimistic and cynical...I've only met one or two out of my many friends who've come down from the New England and surrounding areas)

They don't wave them they paint them on the back of their trucks and have bumper stickers with it on there. I've seen about 2 trucks with the back window painted and 3 with confederate flag bumper stickers in the past week alone, the two with the paint on the back window live around where i do so no suprise seeing them. There have been more then just them that i've seen in the past.

 

[Dr Snakeman]

This has been a stereotype that I have always had to deal with, since I live in Alabama. A recent thread on a gubernatorial candidate in Alabama just brought it back to the front of my mind. Why does everyone bash the South as a racist breeding ground? I have known many people who are from different sections of the US who are just as bigoted as some of the people in the South. There are racists and intolerant people wherever you go, so why is much of the hate directed at us Southerners? The majority of the people I know here are kind and gracious. Your response doesn't have to necessarily apply to the South, but have you or your friends ever been stereotyped as a bigot simply because of where you live?

Look, I was born and raised in Florida, though my parents were both from Brooklyn, so I'm from one of the more northern-ish (if you will) Southern states. The reason why southerners are seen largely as stereotypical racist hicks is because, frankly, they are. Here in the rim section of Florida, we jokingly refer to the innerpart of Florida and the Deep South states to our North as the "South in the North". Now, not all Southerners are truly, openly racist, but there are several aspects that pervade southern society that perpetuate the stereotype:

Not once since the end of Reconstruction has there been a black man or woman elected to high state-wide office (Senator or Governor)in the South.

The Ku Klux Klan is still very, very alive in the South, though decidedly less openly violent than they were during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I can tell you, not from personal experience but by simply word of mouth, where the Klan meets in the central region of Florida on the weekends.

University of Mississippi, of the Deep South, had Rebbie the Rebel as its mascot until very, very recently, and the banning of the song "Dixie" - the anthem of the Confederate States of America, whose sole purpose in being was the perpetuation of slavery - at football games there set off an outcry across the South.

Steve Spurrier, the coach at the University of South Carolina, had to campaign a mere two years ago to get the Confederate flag removed from the statehouse of South Carolina.

Southerners love to talk up the Confederacy as if the rebels were heroes who severed ties with the North in the name of states' rights and freedom, when, in fact, their secession was the reaction to an anti-slavery President coming into office. The lack of ability to grasp that the Confederacy was merely a pro-slavery union is troubling and telling.

Drive around for 10 minutes here in the South - even in the northern trasnplant region that is Florida's rim region - and you will see at least one truck or care with a proud confederate flag on their bumper.

Finally - and most telling - most, if not all, of the state flags of the Southern states contain some variation of the Stars and Bars of the Confederate Flag, even though some of these states only adopted the flags after the rebellion. The confederate flag beign nothing more than a sign of racism, the incorporation of it in the current state flags shows an unwillingness to repent for the past.

You know, although the Confederacy was formed in large part as a reaction to abolitionist sentiment in the North, it was really just the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back".
Economic exploitation of the South by the North contributed heavily to the decision to secede; the threat of losing the institution of slavery (what their economy was largely based on) was seen as an intolerable way for the North to continue to "keep them down".

It's true that slavery was the stated reason for many Southern leaders to secede, but it was not why the soldiers fought, and not why the people (mostly) favored secession.

 

[Jindrak]

It's a stereotype. Everyone has some form of stereotype. Hell, I have to deal with the "Frat Boy" stereotype every day. Yeah, stereotypes suck. Next!

 

[ethaninja]

Eh, why is anybody racist at all? I found racism to be pointless and racist people to be the sticky part that gets on the bottom of your shoe when you walk through a recently cleaned floor.

Unfortunatly steriotypes are just a part of day to day life. Ignore them, and hopefully it will die away... like rap music =)

 

[Dags90]

(in the same regard, not all northerners are super pessimistic and cynical...I've only met one or two out of my many friends who've come down from the New England and surrounding areas)

Every time I come back home, I'm surprised how rude and mistrusting people can be on a daily basis to strangers.

There are still some vehemently racist parts of the U.S., usually in fairly rural places. I would say Mississippi/Louisiana/Arkansas are some of the most socially conservative states, because they haven't had the development other Southern states have. These might not be as common, but they certainly are alive and well. There are places in the U.S. where signs that said "Whites Only" have been taken down, but the rule still applies.

Another thing to keep in mind is how people act around strangers or polite company. Most people are aware that certain things like race, sexuality, religion, etc are controversial issues and avoid these topics with casual acquaintances.

 

[Zarokima]

As someone who's live in Louisiana my whole life, I think the stereotype is pretty well deserved.

EDIT: For some elaboration, half of my family (full family, not just parents and siblings) lives in trailers and consider just about anything non-camo "church clothes." My parents attended an emergency prayer meeting at church the day after Obama won the election, and my grandma gave me a long speech on how I need to be prepared for the end times "when the niggers take over and turn us white folks into slaves" (that's a direct quote from her which I in no way agree with), because she know's I'm "into all that heathen sciencey stuff" so I'm going to be around for the worst of things. And these are just the people I'm related to.

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

Everything I could say has been said, but there is one thing you should keep in mind: Stereotypes have to be at least somewhat true for them to even exist in the first place.

 

[dmase]

I've noticed that people are generally the same in terms of how racist they are. The only difference between the north and the south is that (in most cases) northerners are say whats on their mind, while southerners put on a polite facade. But I think most people get the idea that southerners are more racist because most of the extremists are in the south.

egh you say tomato i say Alaska.

Let me give an example of how many southerners feel about northerners. Well first off think about after the civil war, carpetbaggers is a phrase that comes to mind. That kind of belief has died hard. Not because we're still sore over a war that was over a century ago but a disdain for some perceived slick talking city folk coming down here and not respecting our culture.(yes i use city folk jokingly) We still run on the good old boy system around here and such so we don't take well to outsider. Yet somehow the south has found a kindred spirit in Sarah Palin, it boggles my mind really./ not directed at bladecatcher

 

[HyenaThePirate]

The problem is that the South, having little in the way of industry and having the worst economy in the country for the most part, are some of the geographically most poverty-stricken areas in the nation. And from my experience, poverty leads to racism or prejudice in some form, as the poor will find any number of bogeymen to blame their economic situations on. Poor whites hold grudges against blacks with whom they compete for jobs, benefits, etc. The sentiment is exasperated when politicians parade out program after program aimed at limiting "minority poverty" or other "minority" issues. These people feel excluded, and receiving a disproportionate amount of highly visible assistance, this exclusion leads to feelings of resentment.
You will find that the same situation is the case in the black community, which is just as bigoted and racist against whites, except that blacks make excuses for their racism by creating a mentality that it is just reactionary racism caused by years of oppression. The thing is, Racism and Reverse-Racism (I've never liked that term, because there is no such thing as Reverse Racism.. Racism is RACISM).

The stereotype is unfounded however because people easily seem to forget the institutionalized and brutal racism that existed in large portions of the north and west. Take a look at the racial history of Indiana, Washington State, Northern California, Kentucky, and West Virginia and you'll quickly discover that racism is disgustingly apparent.

Until the South discovers a cure for its ailing economy and lack of economic opportunities/industry it will continue to have to endure the stereotypes of being a hotbed of racism, with good reason.

 

[ToxinArrow]

I love the South, it's awesome down here. Yeah, there are quite a bit conservatives and Republicans but a lot of them aren't racist or brain-dead. Shocker, I know.

Amen, brother.

I don't mind the stereotype so much, because I always assume the ones who categorize all Southerners as redneck inbred racists as soulless machines that can't talk right, don't care about their fellow man, and protest things to look smart and because they think they should.

They stereotype, I stereotype.

Pretty much this, on both accounts.

 

[Nifarious]

adding two cents, people think that a certain locale has problems with racism/lack of education more so than they think everyone there is just that, racist and stupid. Sure, they'll generalize stupidly in conversation, but if they say, were talking with you and it came up that you were from Alabama, if you seemed to not be a hillbilly or whatever, they wouldn't suddenly assume that you now were, but rather that you had to deal with it in ways that they, being from an area known for something else, haven't.

Basically, stereotypes are only so useful. People who view the world polemically over-rely on them, but that's their own issue. If you stick to the individual, none of that matters.

 

[KenzS]

Not everyone in the south is a racist, just everyone in the southeast.

I keed I keed

 

[asdasdasdasda]

aaa

 

[manaman]

God, here if people aren't black "gangstas" they're white rednecks who wonder why their car gets keyed when they wave around the Confederate battle flag. I'm a northerner stuck in a cornbread sucking, hushpuppy inhaling, shitty wannabe southern state. I hate it so much. What I'm trying to say is that there is some truth to the stereotype but with exceptions of course.

I lived in Georgia, and Texas, with long stays in (don't count it as living there if I stayed less then six months) Florida, Alabama, Virginia... You are getting the picture. Never once did I come across anything even remotely like what you are describing.

I think you might what to take another look at your world view, the problem might not be with everyone else so much as it is with you.

 

[KiruTheMant]

I once hit a jackass from New York who called me an Inbred hick,in the middle of Wichita,Kansas,I.E. the Airport Capital of the USA. This is one of my buttons,and whenever this is said to me,or people ask me if i'm inbred,I tend to Hit them as hard as I can in the chin,and say "Seem's my Fist isn't so Inbred"

Southerners are rarely racist,and the ones that aren't can be very violent. Including myself.

 

[Yeager942]

This has been a stereotype that I have always had to deal with, since I live in Alabama. A recent thread on a gubernatorial candidate in Alabama just brought it back to the front of my mind. Why does everyone bash the South as a racist breeding ground? I have known many people who are from different sections of the US who are just as bigoted as some of the people in the South. There are racists and intolerant people wherever you go, so why is much of the hate directed at us Southerners? The majority of the people I know here are kind and gracious. Your response doesn't have to necessarily apply to the South, but have you or your friends ever been stereotyped as a bigot simply because of where you live?

I completely get what you're saying. My mom's Texan and whenever I bring that up with other people they instantly look down on me for being connected with such a "hick" place. (I live in California, Snobsville, USA). It sucks, but apparently, people are racist against Southerners!

 

[LANCE420]

Southerners are rarely racist,and the ones that aren't can be very violent. Including myself.

I think that?s the way all us Americans are.

Simply, racism is everywhere you go and has been a major staple in humanity's history. Every country at one point has engaged in evil behavior. American slavery, holocaust, holodomor, the Inquisition, hundred years? war, and English Protestant persecution of Irish Catholicism are all examples of predjudice. Even recently Bosina and Darfur are modern examples.

It's the oldest story in the book, and focusing on the descendents of those who "may" have commited injustice over 100 years ago isn't going to solve the problems in places where it still happens today.