Are Southerners More Racist Than Northerners?

[Wedgebuster]

I'm thinking they are much the same, except the Southerners are much faster.

[Gil Dobie]

Anywhere I have been, there have been racist. It's in the big cities and small towns, but there has been a lot of progress in my lifetime. It's usually small groups of idiots that have nothing going for themselvs in their lives. The difference is, in a small town, every knows who they are, in the city they can hide in the crowds.

[CID1990]

In my travels I've found there to be all kinds of racism (everywhere)
The only difference seems to be that in the south the folks that are racist don't hide it
in the north the folks that are racist pretend not to be...

other than that - the percentages are I would guess fairly equal

I think you are right. Except that racists in the north don't hide it in front of a southerner that they wrongly think is a kindred spirit

I have seen that a lot, too. I can't count how many times a Northerner has dropped the N bomb to me in conversation, just assuming I'll nod my head and agree with them.

[Ibanez]

I think you are right. Except that racists in the north don't hide it in front of a southerner that they wrongly think is a kindred spirit

I have seen that a lot, too. I can't count how many times a Northerner has dropped the N bomb to me in conversation, just assuming I'll nod my head and agree with them.

In 2001, when I went to college 2 guys from NY were dropping the N word and thought it was acceptable b/c we were in the South.

[houndawg]

Hillary's Barbeque in North Chicago or Waukegan wouldn't serve sailors? Is there another restaurant in Waukegan worth going to? The graduating sailors typically go to restaurants in Gurnee with their parents now.

I couldn't tell you the names of any of the restaurants. Lets just say we had to get QUITE a ways from Waukegan before we found one that would allow us in in our dress blues. Course, that was 25 years ago...things might have changed since then.

Things have changed for sailors, Z. Don't ask, don't tell.

[death dealer]

I'm a Southerner born and bred. I'm also half Jew. Racism is present here for sure. I would suggest however that we have a slight advantage over areas of the country where desegregation is less prevalent. See, here, we go to school together, we shop, eat out, go to sporting events together. It's just how it is. I have a friend from Pittsburgh who honestly had never even met an African American in a social situation until he came to Furman. That was so foreign to me that I was convinced that he was full of shit and just fucking with me, until he pulled out his high school yearbook, and sure enough, lilly white as the sheets on my bed. And he attended a public school. He was actually a little scared of black people. It was so weird to me then. That shit would never happen in the South, therefore, we are acclimated to getting along with one another. My best friend through the sixth grade was Anthony Foster, a kid who lived down the street from my grandmother where i spent most of my time after school and during the summer. Never occurred to me that he was black. Of course, it never occurred to me that I was a Jew either. Just wasn't an issue.

[CID1990]

I'm a Southerner born and bred. I'm also half Jew. Racism is present here for sure. I would suggest however that we have a slight advantage over areas of the country where desegregation is less prevalent. See, here, we go to school together, we shop, eat out, go to sporting events together. It's just how it is. I have a friend from Pittsburgh who honestly had never even met an African American in a social situation until he came to Furman. That was so foreign to me that I was convinced that he was full of **** and just **** with me, until he pulled out his high school yearbook, and sure enough, lilly white as the sheets on my bed. And he attended a public school. He was actually a little scared of black people. It was so weird to me then. That **** would never happen in the South, therefore, we are acclimated to getting along with one another. My best friend through the sixth grade was Anthony Foster, a kid who lived down the street from my grandmother where i spent most of my time after school and during the summer. Never occurred to me that he was black. Of course, it never occurred to me that I was a Jew either. Just wasn't an issue.

He probably also had never been to a school where they frown on dancin'.... before going to Furman, either.

[native]

you're not entirely wrong... sadly.

Philly is guilty of that very thing. I was shocked by how segregated Philly was... just wasn't expecting it. They are encouraged to vote... but they are red-lined hardcore in that town. there is a lot of antagonism both ways in Philly... the Danny Boyle shirts vs. "free Mumia"... still 30 years later... and still they are on about it...

the Twin Towns aren't segregated per se, but when 90% of a states population is white... it's hard to tell. St. Paul is still somewhat segregated, but it generally owes to when the Hmong and Latino residents get enough money, they move to the burbs... (there really are no African Americans in StP going back to the 60's... when we built a freeway through their neighborhood - right down the middle of it)

I assume that one could say I am at least partially right

My thoughts are based on experience and course that is limited. I know very little about Minneapolis/St PAul. One quick trip was it for me.

My personal opinion is I would rather the voting rights act be applicable to all states. However, I would be nervous about overturning it. While I think the south has come a long way and is far better than some parts of the country, I am not naive enough to think that our problems are over.

How can the problems ever end as long as a majority of black Americans think OJ and "Mumia" are innocent?

[Ibanez]

I assume that one could say I am at least partially right

My thoughts are based on experience and course that is limited. I know very little about Minneapolis/St PAul. One quick trip was it for me.

My personal opinion is I would rather the voting rights act be applicable to all states. However, I would be nervous about overturning it. While I think the south has come a long way and is far better than some parts of the country, I am not naive enough to think that our problems are over.

How can the problems ever end as long as a majority of black Americans think OJ and "Mumia" are innocent?

And continue to blame whitey?

[GSUhooligan]

I'm a Southerner born and bred. I'm also half Jew. Racism is present here for sure. I would suggest however that we have a slight advantage over areas of the country where desegregation is less prevalent. See, here, we go to school together, we shop, eat out, go to sporting events together. It's just how it is. I have a friend from Pittsburgh who honestly had never even met an African American in a social situation until he came to Furman. That was so foreign to me that I was convinced that he was full of **** and just **** with me, until he pulled out his high school yearbook, and sure enough, lilly white as the sheets on my bed. And he attended a public school. He was actually a little scared of black people. It was so weird to me then. That **** would never happen in the South, therefore, we are acclimated to getting along with one another. My best friend through the sixth grade was Anthony Foster, a kid who lived down the street from my grandmother where i spent most of my time after school and during the summer. Never occurred to me that he was black. Of course, it never occurred to me that I was a Jew either. Just wasn't an issue.

I was just about to post something similar. Good point DD, and 100% accurate.

[native]

I'm a Southerner born and bred. I'm also half Jew. Racism is present here for sure. I would suggest however that we have a slight advantage over areas of the country where desegregation is less prevalent. See, here, we go to school together, we shop, eat out, go to sporting events together. It's just how it is. I have a friend from Pittsburgh who honestly had never even met an African American in a social situation until he came to Furman. That was so foreign to me that I was convinced that he was full of **** and just **** with me, until he pulled out his high school yearbook, and sure enough, lilly white as the sheets on my bed. And he attended a public school. He was actually a little scared of black people. It was so weird to me then. That **** would never happen in the South, therefore, we are acclimated to getting along with one another. My best friend through the sixth grade was Anthony Foster, a kid who lived down the street from my grandmother where i spent most of my time after school and during the summer. Never occurred to me that he was black. Of course, it never occurred to me that I was a Jew either. Just wasn't an issue.

Always got along well with the black folk from the South. Lots of good times in my year at Alcorn State.

[CID1990]

I assume that one could say I am at least partially right

My thoughts are based on experience and course that is limited. I know very little about Minneapolis/St PAul. One quick trip was it for me.

My personal opinion is I would rather the voting rights act be applicable to all states. However, I would be nervous about overturning it. While I think the south has come a long way and is far better than some parts of the country, I am not naive enough to think that our problems are over.

How can the problems ever end as long as a majority of black Americans think OJ and "Mumia" are innocent?

OMG don't even start on Mumia.

I still do not eat Ben and Jerry's to this day.

[houndawg]

I assume that one could say I am at least partially right

My thoughts are based on experience and course that is limited. I know very little about Minneapolis/St PAul. One quick trip was it for me.

My personal opinion is I would rather the voting rights act be applicable to all states. However, I would be nervous about overturning it. While I think the south has come a long way and is far better than some parts of the country, I am not naive enough to think that our problems are over.

How can the problems ever end as long as a majority of black Americans think OJ and "Mumia" are innocent?

A majority of blacks don't think that OJ and Mumia are innocent. They think that since so many innocent blacks are convicted and sometimes executed that a couple of guilty ones getting off is just karma.


OJ would be dead right now if a bunch of cops hadn't been filmed using Rodney King for batting practice and Detective Furman hadn't gone over the wall to plant that glove. Unfortunately that trumped the desire of black women everywhere to stick it to OJ for marrying a white girl and not giving back at all to the black community.

[native]

How can the problems ever end as long as a majority of black Americans think OJ and "Mumia" are innocent?

A majority of blacks don't think that OJ and Mumia are innocent. They think that since so many innocent blacks are convicted and sometimes executed that a couple of guilty ones getting off is just karma.


OJ would be dead right now if a bunch of cops hadn't been filmed using Rodney King for batting practice and Detective Furman hadn't gone over the wall to plant that glove. Unfortunately that trumped the desire of black women everywhere to stick it to OJ for marrying a white girl and not giving back at all to the black community.

Some of your deductions are reasonable, dawg. Nonetheless, your conlusions are based on unvalidated assumptions.

You cannot know for sure what is in someone else's heart. Hell, I would wager that many of those who think O.J. is innocent don't even know why they themselves think so.

[houndawg]

Just repeating what I've been told by more than one black person. YMMV

[ASUMountaineer]

From my experiences, the racism in the South has two forms - rural South - it is no bones about it social casting that would make a Brahman proud.

Urban - much more subtle. Southern Politeness puts a nice veneer on it, but it is just below the surface. Social interaction between the races is MUCH less in the south than in the north..

One story one of my frat brothers told me illustrates this - he was a manager in a plant in Winston-Salem - had line managers that were both black and white. While getting to know them, he wanted to take each out individually to lunch, as a informal way to meet them. The black managers all refused to go individually, saying that if you saw a black man and a white man out to lunch together, everyone just assumed they were gay...

From my experiences, you're incorrect...generally speaking (as it appears you are). I can speak from personal experience having grown up in a small, rural town in the South..in fact, in the "Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt." My hometown is Trinity, NC (see, told you), when I left the population was 6,600 people.

I now live in Charlotte, an urban Southern town. I've also lived in the north in Lansing, MI. From my experiences, there is more racism in Lansing than Charlotte. Granted, Charlotte has many transplants, but there are still a lot of southerners left. I saw more rebel flags, rednecks. and heard more racist slurs in Lansing in one year than I've ever seen in Charlotte in my 3+ years here.

You're older than me, so perhaps your experiences came from people who were around when Jim Crow laws were in practice. The thought that all southerners are racists couldn't be further from the truth. As was pointed out earlier, it's easier to believe the stereotype than to come to a different conclusion. Perhaps, I can deduce from your posts that gay men are simply lazy.

[ASUMountaineer]

I'm a Southerner born and bred. I'm also half Jew. Racism is present here for sure. I would suggest however that we have a slight advantage over areas of the country where desegregation is less prevalent. See, here, we go to school together, we shop, eat out, go to sporting events together. It's just how it is. I have a friend from Pittsburgh who honestly had never even met an African American in a social situation until he came to Furman. That was so foreign to me that I was convinced that he was full of **** and just **** with me, until he pulled out his high school yearbook, and sure enough, lilly white as the sheets on my bed. And he attended a public school. He was actually a little scared of black people. It was so weird to me then. That **** would never happen in the South, therefore, we are acclimated to getting along with one another. My best friend through the sixth grade was Anthony Foster, a kid who lived down the street from my grandmother where i spent most of my time after school and during the summer. Never occurred to me that he was black. Of course, it never occurred to me that I was a Jew either. Just wasn't an issue.

Very similar experience for me. Perhaps it was my raising, but I never cared what color you were...as Denis Leary says, "Why hate people because of the color of their skin, there's much better reasons to hate them." I kid, I kid.

Honestly, I have had several friends that were different races (black, Hispanic) I married a Joo, and have friends that are gay. I hail from this mystical, backwards place called the rural south. It's amazing how strong stereotypes are. For example, Jews are penny-pinchers...they have never met my wife. It's just not that big of a deal, and this is becoming the way of thinking in the South. Perhaps others haven't visited the South recently...

[houndawg]

Most of your famous ghettos are in the north.

I've been all over this country and never seen a more racist place than Boston.

[CID1990]

From my experiences, the racism in the South has two forms - rural South - it is no bones about it social casting that would make a Brahman proud.

Urban - much more subtle. Southern Politeness puts a nice veneer on it, but it is just below the surface. Social interaction between the races is MUCH less in the south than in the north..

One story one of my frat brothers told me illustrates this - he was a manager in a plant in Winston-Salem - had line managers that were both black and white. While getting to know them, he wanted to take each out individually to lunch, as a informal way to meet them. The black managers all refused to go individually, saying that if you saw a black man and a white man out to lunch together, everyone just assumed they were gay...

From my experiences, you're incorrect...generally speaking (as it appears you are). I can speak from personal experience having grown up in a small, rural town in the South..in fact, in the "Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt." My hometown is Trinity, NC (see, told you), when I left the population was 6,600 people.

I now live in Charlotte, an urban Southern town. I've also lived in the north in Lansing, MI. From my experiences, there is more racism in Lansing than Charlotte. Granted, Charlotte has many transplants, but there are still a lot of southerners left. I saw more rebel flags, rednecks. and heard more racist slurs in Lansing in one year than I've ever seen in Charlotte in my 3+ years here.

You're older than me, so perhaps your experiences came from people who were around when Jim Crow laws were in practice. The thought that all southerners are racists couldn't be further from the truth. As was pointed out earlier, it's easier to believe the stereotype than to come to a different conclusion. Perhaps, I can deduce from your posts that gay men are simply lazy.

Gonna add my hometown (Yanceyville, NC, pop. 2600... county seat of Caswell County) to the list on that one. Jon, I think you and your frat buddy were living in a bubble. I think if you spoke to more people you would find that your friend's experience is quite unique. My best friend from kindergarten all the way through high school was black, as were several other close friends, and we nev

[CID1990]

From my experiences, the racism in the South has two forms - rural South - it is no bones about it social casting that would make a Brahman proud.

Urban - much more subtle. Southern Politeness puts a nice veneer on it, but it is just below the surface. Social interaction between the races is MUCH less in the south than in the north..

One story one of my frat brothers told me illustrates this - he was a manager in a plant in Winston-Salem - had line managers that were both black and white. While getting to know them, he wanted to take each out individually to lunch, as a informal way to meet them. The black managers all refused to go individually, saying that if you saw a black man and a white man out to lunch together, everyone just assumed they were gay...

From my experiences, you're incorrect...generally speaking (as it appears you are). I can speak from personal experience having grown up in a small, rural town in the South..in fact, in the "Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt." My hometown is Trinity, NC (see, told you), when I left the population was 6,600 people.

I now live in Charlotte, an urban Southern town. I've also lived in the north in Lansing, MI. From my experiences, there is more racism in Lansing than Charlotte. Granted, Charlotte has many transplants, but there are still a lot of southerners left. I saw more rebel flags, rednecks. and heard more racist slurs in Lansing in one year than I've ever seen in Charlotte in my 3+ years here.

You're older than me, so perhaps your experiences came from people who were around when Jim Crow laws were in practice. The thought that all southerners are racists couldn't be further from the truth. As was pointed out earlier, it's easier to believe the stereotype than to come to a different conclusion. Perhaps, I can deduce from your posts that gay men are simply lazy.

Gonna add my hometown (Yanceyville, NC, pop. 2600... county seat of Caswell County) to the list on that one. Jon, I think you and your frat buddy were living in a bubble. I think if you spoke to more people you would find that your friend's experience is quite unique. My best friend from kindergarten all the way through high school was black, as were several other close friends, and we never experienced anything like that.

Maybe the black managers just thought your buddy was queer or something.

[Ibanez]

From my experiences, the racism in the South has two forms - rural South - it is no bones about it social casting that would make a Brahman proud.

Urban - much more subtle. Southern Politeness puts a nice veneer on it, but it is just below the surface. Social interaction between the races is MUCH less in the south than in the north..

One story one of my frat brothers told me illustrates this - he was a manager in a plant in Winston-Salem - had line managers that were both black and white. While getting to know them, he wanted to take each out individually to lunch, as a informal way to meet them. The black managers all refused to go individually, saying that if you saw a black man and a white man out to lunch together, everyone just assumed they were gay...

From my experiences, you're incorrect...generally speaking (as it appears you are). I can speak from personal experience having grown up in a small, rural town in the South..in fact, in the "Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt." My hometown is Trinity, NC (see, told you), when I left the population was 6,600 people.

I now live in Charlotte, an urban Southern town. I've also lived in the north in Lansing, MI. From my experiences, there is more racism in Lansing than Charlotte. Granted, Charlotte has many transplants, but there are still a lot of southerners left. I saw more rebel flags, rednecks. and heard more racist slurs in Lansing in one year than I've ever seen in Charlotte in my 3+ years here.

You're older than me, so perhaps your experiences came from people who were around when Jim Crow laws were in practice. The thought that all southerners are racists couldn't be further from the truth. As was pointed out earlier, it's easier to believe the stereotype than to come to a different conclusion. Perhaps, I can deduce from your posts that gay men are simply lazy.

Part of the reason, that people from outside the south see us as rascits is that they probably never spent anytime in the South, with a "common" southerner. A common southerner is one that has grown up alongside peopleof various races. I don't try to speak for everyone and you have your families where the parents are ignorant(which perpetuates the cycle) but for themost part I have experienced more racism from people from the North and Midwest. I still remember the two guys from ALbany, NY that thought we all called blacks niggers and had hanging parties. I still recall seeing a large, diesel truck with a lift, tinted windows and a the confederate flag on the back window with New York plates. I thought this guy was the biggest idiot, and was shocked to see a black man get out of the driver seat.

Stereotypes are further from the truth because we have idiots in this country that read that biased US History books, watch Gone with the Wind and think we still have Negro Men in the fields and thier women in our beds.

[Ibanez]

From my experiences, you're incorrect...generally speaking (as it appears you are). I can speak from personal experience having grown up in a small, rural town in the South..in fact, in the "Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt." My hometown is Trinity, NC (see, told you), when I left the population was 6,600 people.

I now live in Charlotte, an urban Southern town. I've also lived in the north in Lansing, MI. From my experiences, there is more racism in Lansing than Charlotte. Granted, Charlotte has many transplants, but there are still a lot of southerners left. I saw more rebel flags, rednecks. and heard more racist slurs in Lansing in one year than I've ever seen in Charlotte in my 3+ years here.

You're older than me, so perhaps your experiences came from people who were around when Jim Crow laws were in practice. The thought that all southerners are racists couldn't be further from the truth. As was pointed out earlier, it's easier to believe the stereotype than to come to a different conclusion. Perhaps, I can deduce from your posts that gay men are simply lazy.

Gonna add my hometown (Yanceyville, NC, pop. 2600... county seat of Caswell County) to the list on that one. Jon, I think you and your frat buddy were living in a bubble. I think if you spoke to more people you would find that your friend's experience is quite unique. My best friend from kindergarten all the way through high school was black, as were several other close friends, and we never experienced anything like that.

Maybe the black managers just thought your buddy was queer or something.

The black managers must've been gay b/c two guys having lunch together doesn't make me think of Brokeback Mountain.

[CID1990]

Gonna add my hometown (Yanceyville, NC, pop. 2600... county seat of Caswell County) to the list on that one. Jon, I think you and your frat buddy were living in a bubble. I think if you spoke to more people you would find that your friend's experience is quite unique. My best friend from kindergarten all the way through high school was black, as were several other close friends, and we never experienced anything like that.

Maybe the black managers just thought your buddy was queer or something.

The black managers must've been gay b/c two guys having lunch together doesn't make me think of Brokeback Mountain.

That is certainly another possibility.

[Pwns]

I second DD's post. Folks from the northeast,midwest, and west coast who can count the black people they know on one hand tend to be the most ignorant when it comes to race issues. In my experience these people fit into two categories...you have your anti-creationists that believe things like higher incarceration rates and higher poverty rates of certain ethnicities is a matter of genetics and evolution. On the other hand you have the self-righteous ones that think southerners simply just hate non-whites. It all depends on whether their extremely narrow experiences with black folks are with your educated, suburban middle class blacks or with blacks who help reinforce negative stereotypes.

Southerners always have more nuanced views about race and understand the problem is more complex than simply racism by whites. And they are less likely to believe certain ethnicities to be higher on the evolutionary ladder than others.

[CID1990]

Popular perception holds that minds narrow the further you go south.

Personal experience tells me that the opposite is true.