Oh, you’d be surprised at how much nostalgia there is among elderly blacks in the South- just not for the same things (or for the same reasons) as whites.
I’ve NEVER met a black person who wanted to return to the days of Jim Crow and the KKK, obviously. But I have met many who have fond memories of the way their communities were in the days of segregation, and who feel that something precious was lost when the laws were changed. Nobody’s reminisces fondly about George Wallace and Lester Maddox, but there are mahy who feel that, in some ways, their lives and communities WERE much better and happier in an earlier time.
A few years ago, there was a documentary about Tulsa Oklahoma, called “Going Back to T-Town,” which illustrated what I’m talking about. As morally repugnant as segregation was, it forced black Americans in many cities to form close, tight-knit communities. Since laws forced all blacks, regardless of socio-economic class, to live in the same part of town, you’d see black doctors living next door to black maids and janitors, black businessmen living next door to black sanitation men. The presence of black professionals gave these communities leaders and positive role models. There were thriving black-owned retail stores, movie theaters and restaurants. Elderly black folk who remember their old communities often express pride in what they had and what they were able to accomplish.
I don’t idealize the situation, nor do latter-day blacks who remember the way things were. Nobody wants to return to those days. But desegregation DID have a price. Once laws were changed, and prosperous professional black people could move and live wherever they wanted, most of them left their communities behind and settled in more affluent areas that had been off-limits before.
That’s understandable. It’s good. But in many cases, the communities they left behind were devastated as a result. Many of these communities were left with only their poorest residents, without the professionals, the leaders, the positive role models, the businesses or the respected institutions they used to have.
Again, I emphasize that NO black people today look back and say, “Jim Crow was great. I wish they’d bring back lynching and cross-burning and segregation.” But you WILL meet elderly black folks in many parts of the South who’ll shake their heads and say, “This USED to be a wonderful part of town. This USED to be a blessed community. I don’t know what happened to it.”