I am baffled by the racism of the pre-1970s Deep South

[Anonymous]

southern whites were a minority yet held all of the power. that is a scary hold on things to be sure. and when you are taught that a race is completely inferior for 250 years worth of generations it become self-sustaining.


slavery, the gift that keeps on giving.

[Anonymous]

My father grew up in the north, and moved to the deep south about 10 years ago. He has talked with several old-timers who have expressed the sentiment "I don't really know what we thought the big deal was. It doesn't seem like a big deal now." Of course they'll still complain about the lazy blacks and the social welfare situation, but when asked about the segregation of schools and such, they can't really articulate why they were so fired up about it. They admit that they WERE, but don't try to justify it now.

In turn, my father (who used to be very outspoken about homosexuality-- against it in the social sense, believed it was a detriment to our society) began to believe that in the relatively short term, the anti-gay crowd will age and fade and the vast majority of society will view homosexuality as "no big deal". This realization has made him much more tolerant, which is nice to see in an older man.

[Anonymous]

You know what, OP. People concentrate on the South, but racism is and was everywhere in the US. Check out the book Sundown Towns -- which is the history of towns in the United States in which African Americans were lynched or refused admission after sundown. NINETY PERCENT of them were in the north. Indiana, Illinois, Ohio. Yup. People like to believe that racism was a southern phenomenon, but most Southern towns were integrated.

[Anonymous]

website of sundown towns in the united states

http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/content.php?file=sundowntowns-whitemap.html

[Anonymous]

Glen Echo Park right here in MD was segregated.

[Anonymous]

The book "Warmth of Other Suns" is also quite revealing on this topic -- about the Great Migration and life in the south, leading so many to leave.

[Anonymous]

The 1970s British trade unionist in me says it was stoked by the upper-class Whites to keep working-class Whites and Blacks at odds against each other, in order to preserve the feudal order that still lingers in small/medium-sized towns across the South.

4:48 raises a valid point. Let's not forget Dr. King's comment about Chicago: ‘‘I have seen many demonstrations in the south but I have never seen anything so hostile and so hateful as I’ve seen here today."

[Anonymous]

And let's not forget that other racial minorities (other than AA) also suffered lots of racism too, from both AA and Caucasians.

[Anonymous]

7:43 back again. Let's just consider that nations can be seized by a collective madness. Think Germans in the 30s and 40s, Serbs in the 80s and 90s, Hutus in the 80s and 90s, the US in the 00s, and so on, and so forth. Of course not all these madnesses are equally harmful nor are they universal (the murderous Hutus killed 10s of thousands of other Hutus they thought were pro-Tutsi, there was a vibrant opposition to the Bush II Administration, etc.)

For whatever reason, Southern Whites believed the Jim Crow regime was necessary to preserve the public order.

6:59, I assume you're familiar as well with the New Great Migration -- the return of Blacks to the South?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The film you are watching sounds very grim. While I do believe that it was not a pleasant time, I would also question the accuracy of the movie.
Something dramatized for tv does not mean it is accurately describing the time.

If you are over fifteen this is inexcusable.

+1000

[Anonymous]

OP, I studied Jim Crow in college. If you want a reading list, just holler. This goes back hundreds of years, and was done so that the ruling economic class (plantation owners etc) could sustain the terrible racism and patnernalistic justifications needed to enslave another race.

Of course, that doesn't begin to skim the surface. But economics has a lot to do with it.

[Anonymous]

You think it is so different in the North? I have lived in cities all over the Northeast and they are still basically segregated in many parts. Mostly the poor parts.

Northerners pat themselves on the back but shouldn't. In certain part of the city you can pat yourselves on the back and pretend we live in a post-race world. Go to the projects and see if you can still say that with a straight face.

I find it surprising that OP finds racism and other intolerances "baffling." Really? Just can't comprehend it? Open your eyes, it is everywhere. If it isn't racism, it is hatred of Conservatives, or Catholics, or Muslims, or Evangelicals, of pro-lifers, of pro-choicers, or red states, or gays, or Wall Street, or anti-Wall Street, of anyone who thinks differently. It has been since the beginning of history. And it's not going to change any time soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You think it is so different in the North? I have lived in cities all over the Northeast and they are still basically segregated in many parts. Mostly the poor parts.

Northerners pat themselves on the back but shouldn't. In certain part of the city you can pat yourselves on the back and pretend we live in a post-race world. Go to the projects and see if you can still say that with a straight face.

I've spent long periods of time in several cities over the last 15 years and I encountered more prejudiced/racist attitudes in Boston and Philly than I did anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 1960s and 1970s. It was pretty atrocious and open there as well. I try to explain it to my kids and they simply can't believe it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The film you are watching sounds very grim. While I do believe that it was not a pleasant time, I would also question the accuracy of the movie.
Something dramatized for tv does not mean it is accurately describing the time.

Are you serious? You need a history refresher if you think this "dramatized for tv." The OP is talking about the Freedom Riders, some of whom were killed for doing what they did. Yes, that is "grim" but it is also fact.

My dad moved to the South from Connecticut in 1969. He was harassed repeatedly by the Klan for having black friends and once even threatened at gun point that he would be killed if he did not immediately separate from his friend (he did not and they kept walking). I assure that the such rabid racism does not need to be dramatized - it was (and unfortunately for some still is) very much real.

I was just talking to my DH the other day about how proud individuals must feel of their parents and/or grandparents who were ahead of the times and believed in civil rights for all people even when it was not the popular sentiment.