The only train station near here is in Winter Park and you have to buy a ticket.
Ben, you OK?
Now Florida may be just a little different…I been to both Miami and Orlando this year and felt at home in both. Very easy to feel at home in south beach…
Check out Atlanta. As you already noted, black folks have been running things in those parts for quite a while. Atlanta is no South Beach, OTOH. They do have Michael Vick, but no coach.
As I see it from here, knowing a great deal about Georgia also, the New South has long overtaken the Old South. Integration has happened. I’ll admit, it’s not as smooth in rural GA as it is in urban FL – but it’s happened. There is more residential being built near the inner city now than at any time I can remember. This is happening on a larger scale all over the South.
Everything must be viewed through the Dukes of Hazzard lens (two articles) to be made clear. First paragraph from the first article:
But always remember, even if you do buy into the stereotype, that they’re just good ole boys, never meanin’ no harm…
Now if we could just get 1000 more from Florida to vote democrated…lol
All this just wants to make me cry. Where’s the optimism?
Ben, I’m sorry for whatever … happened to make you feel that way. Seriously.
Here … where I’m at … a couple miles north of Jackson … good people are trying their damndest to make it better. And Jackson will get better too. There are hundreds of folks, of all stripes, working on that.
I do believe … I DO ! That it will get better. Just hide and watch. If you wanna make change, you have to try hard.
I went by the office of one of my bestest engineer friends today. I’m priviledged to be asked to work on a project with them. You know what?
I DONT see color when I walk in. I see a busy office, with much good work going on, people I like and trust going about the business of making the world better for everyone. I’m proud to be a part of that.
And the fact that I’m a woman, or he’s a black dude, enters little into it. For what that’s worth.
A new Mississippi is on the horizon. Like I said, hide and watch. 
Thats how it is where I live. I personally don’t even know that many southerners and I live in Greenville, SC. To me it always seems like 2/3rds of the population came from elsewhere. Trying to find someone who was born here is pretty hard.
That sounds kinda rude, unless you have been appointed moral guru of correcting southern people or something
(We are big on manners down here.)
Transplanted Yankee checking in.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NYC, I moved to just outside Little Rock when my wife and I got married (she’s a native Arkansan).
I’ve pretty much got to agree with the OP on most points. the racial situation here is deplorable. Not in its severity, but by its pervasiveness- I’m used to racism like this from some of the rural areas I’ve lived in (Deerfield, Mass), but always figured on that as a fixture of the tribalism of small-town life. I’d never thought to see racism run unchallenged so close to the seat of power.
The religion thing is worse though. When ‘educated’ people tell me that the earth is only 6000 years old, or that the rapture is a week from Tuesday because Brother Bob says so…the willful ignorance is astounding…and not only tolerated, encouraged.
Anyway, just thought I’d add my 2 cents in. It seemed like a lot of folks would like to believe that the OP’s experience is singular, or a fluke, etc…it’s not. But as I said, the religion thing is what’s choking the South…though due to the ‘small -town’ mentality, a lot of things are enshrined in religion that should not be. Among these are race theory, creationism, and high school athletics.
Looks at OP, starts to rant, wearies, and changes her mind
I’m a Mississippian, born and bred. I guess I’m pretty stereotypical. Four of my ancestors were Confederate soldiers. My family still owns land pre-War, with a slave graveyard on it. My grandfather was a moonshiner, and my great-grandfather was in the Klan. The small town I come from has a population of 6,000 and they’re all related to me.
But… I’m an atheist who counts Hare Krishnas, Southern Baptists, and Mormons among her close friends. I’m college-educated. My grandfather may have been a moonshiner, but a finer man would be hard to find. I’ve been supported by my huge extended family, which despite our ups and downs is still strong, still loving. My kin raised me to be a Southern woman – strong and proud and determined, without sacrificing femininity or my mind. I live my life with pride and dignity in what and who I am.
Mississippi ain’t perfect by a long shot. But I wouldn’t be who I am today without Mississippi, and I think that’d be a damn shame.
You’ll have to move up North, Nichol_storm, or maybe out West. You don’t fit the stereotype of the “South.” Can’t have that. We’re all homogenous, doncha know.
BELVEDERE! Bring me anothuh mint julep! Oppressin’ these dahkies has given me a powuhful thust!
I think it’s obvious that a person who goes around making racist comments isn’t big on manners. Even Emily Post considers racist comments to be rude.
Is it rude to correct them? Perhaps. But I’m okay with that, if it prevents them being rude in the future.
Incidentally, I HAVE been appointed the moral guru of correcting Southern people (note the capital S, and consider yourself corrected): there was a ceremony and everything. Drop by my house some day and I’ll show you my certificate.
Daniel
As was pointed out earlier in the thread, many Southerners have a particular interest in the Civil War because it was fought here and had such a tremendous effect on us - the war completely wrecked the economies of many Southern states, created huge shifts in population, and, to be blunt, just fucked things up down here in the worst possible way. A society can’t go through that and not want to explain it, analyze it, and try to find some meaning in it. It isn’t romanticizing the events, as I don’t know anyone who finds wholesale carnage, economic collapse, and destruction of property particularly romantic.
I grew up in Fredericksburg (site of incredible devastation and thousands upon thousands of dead on both sides), have lived and worked in Richmond for 20 years (within 5 minutes of Cold Harbro, Gaines Mill, Petersburg, Malvern Hill, Yellow Tavern, etc etc etc) and can’t explain the way that the Civil War permeates the landscape. I’ve spoken to people visiting from the North and watched as it struck them how bloody and horrific the events must have been - and it is right here in our back yard. The vast majority of soilders on the Confederate side weren’t slave owners - they were fighting either because they thought they might get paid a little something (my great-grandfather received a bill for his uniforms when he was discharged from the 30th VA Infantry - “Sorry, you owe us for the privilege of fighting.”), or because they felt the need to protect their homes (having an army burn down your house, kill your livestock, and shoot at you is liable to make you fire back - slave owner or not). I dare say that the majority of those fightin on the Union side could have cared less whether the Confederate states left or not - conscription and the possibility of getting a little pay out of the deal probably had as much to do with it.
As to all of the other charges made agains the South, I suppose we’re guilty as charged on many of them. Of course, there are any number of sterotypical traits that could be identified as “Northern.” In any case, faults and all, I’m Southern to the bone and cannot imagine living anywhere else - this is my home.
Patrick Buchanan -------------> [ ]
[ ] <------------ Al Gore
Hi!
I only visited the south (SC, NC and VA) for a vacation about 10 years ago. I saw little of racism, but then I wasn’t there long. I did encounter politeness from both black and white.
I think really every place has it’s good points and faults. As some one pointed out it all depends on where you lived, who you hung out with, etc. as to your experience. You can’t project your experience to be typical or atypical, it’s just…your experience.
What the hell’s wrong with being a moonshiner? For many folks it was the only way to put food on the family’s table. Even the local authorities would often look the other way, since they knew that without the money moonshine brought in, people would starve. Better to violate a stupid law and feed your family than be an “honest” citizen and starve, IMHO.
I nearly forgot one of my favorite “anti-yankee” incidents from when I moved to NC. (Besides the overt hostility I got at work, where the supervisor on site called my boss and told him I needed to learn to do things the “southern way”. Um, yeah. Whatever).
My husband and I met a neighbor- nice guy. Comes over, has a beer “sits a spell”- you get the idea. I told him I love the scooter he rides (I have one, too) and ask if I can see it. “SURE!” He proudly shows me his scooter, and on the back is a rebel flag sticker with the saying “The more Yankees I meet, the more I can’t believe we lost the war”. I was stunned, he looked mortified (I honestly think he forgot it was there) and I said “Hey, nice sticker. I guess we’re good enough for free beer though, right?” and he tried the old “Well, not ALL yankees- y’all are the good ones”. Um, how about a big fuck you, polite southern friend? And a yankee “eat it” on the side.
Well, first, I have trouble understanding how you corrected anything I said as I don’t make racist comments.
Second, we are big fans of Judith Martin down here, as she, like many Southerners, is a practical person.
And third, correcting people as you describe seldom does anything other than provide an opportunity for confrontation and give you the opportunity to feel self-righteous. I can’t imagine it improving anything for anybody, regardless of race.
(Congratulations on your certificate)
It’s not just the war. The North and South were settled by vastly different groups of Englishmen, from very different cultures, and those cultural differences have persisted for hundreds of years. The War of the Southern Secession was just an extreme symptom of those cultural differences.
I highly recommend Albion’s Seed by David Fischer Hackett; he talks about the four major groups which settled America and their very different worldviews. It was a revelation for me.
Check out the jocular tone of the paragraph it was in, as well as the information in the same parenthetical comment, and you should be able to figure it out.
Daniel