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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DH and I were talking the other night about how both of our families have dysfunction going back at least several generations, but how differently it impacts people today compared to 50 years ago, and how differently people feel and think about it.

The dysfunction in question is lots of alcohol abuse in both families, mental health issues that largely went undiagnosed, plus trauma -- lot of abuse against kids when they were young (not just spanking but like kids being beaten up by parents and siblings), plus societal traumas like the Great Depression, WWII, and the act of immigrating with no money and to a country where they faced a lot of discrimination.

But there are these stark differences between how our parents' and grandparents' generations handled those issues, and how our generation is handling it.

I just wonder what changed. A lot of the same issues are present by where my parents and grandparents managed to work through them to maintain family ties, my generation just isn't. I now wonder if I will ever see my siblings after my parents pass -- if things continue as they are, I will only see them if I do all the work to make it happen. It's sad.[/quote]

You’re only describing a very small piece of the population.  50 years ago people were treated for mental health issues.  There were probably more people who were ignorant about it and didn’t seek help but it was there, as bad as it is today.  Most kids weren’t beaten.  There are always immigrants coming in but most Americans have had generations of being American 50 years ago.

Fifty years ago young people had Vietnam to deal with along with the veterans being poorly treated.   Our best leaders had been assassinated.   The South was a hellhole that would burn their neighborhood down before they let Black people live there.  Times weren’t great for a lot of people.   I don’t think people today appreciate that although this country has many issues including why they would vote for someone like half of Americans did, there have been many worse times in our history.  [/quote]

Another person ignorant about U.S. history. The comments you made about the South were absolutely true in the North, the Midwest, and the West - everywhere. Many of the prefab communities in the North had rules against allowing anyone other than Whites from living in them. There are many known issues in all of the areas of this country with racism. [/quote]

The Civil Rights Movement was fought in the South.   It was fought in Georgia where they would close schools rather than allow Black students to attend.  Where they had a governor who promised voters segregation forever. It was fought in Alabama where grown Black women had to give their seat on a bus to a White man if the White section was full.   The Freedom Riders in Mississippi who worked to get Black citizens registered to vote were met with violence, jail and murder by authorities.

No place is safe from racism just like no place is safe from violence.  But there’s no comparison.  Mississippi had almost 600 recorded lynchings.   There are no recorded history of lynchings in Massachusetts .   That doesn’t mean it was all peaceful in Massachusetts, it means that Mississippi was a more dangerous place.

Changes were and are slow in most of the country.  But states slowly did the right things to push equality.  All except The South where it took a war for them to release slaves and it took the federal government to force them to stop segregation.  
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+1
Mississippi didn't change their state constitution to outlaw slavery until the 70's.[/quote]

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