Is internet shaming a good way to combat racism and bigotry?

[iiandyiiii]

Shagnasty, I can’t help but recall the thread you started a couple of years ago complaining about how the South is supposedly unjustly attacked and criticized. I’ll respond the same way now that I did then (I’ve bolded the parts that I think you’re not getting):

@iiandyiiii

The South-defenders in this thread still are missing the point, I think. It’s not that the South is a terrible place, and Southerners are evil – the South is a great place (as good as any region of the US), and Southerners are fine people (as good as any people in the US). But the place and people aren’t perfect. And the major problem, in my mind, is that so many Southern white people (not all, but many or most) refuse to accept the truth of history – that Southern culture and tradition up until recent decades (and even beyond, in some ways) was dominated by white supremacism, and treated black people abominably, through slavery and a century beyond. And that there is good reason for many people to see the Confederate battle flag as the symbol of this abominable treatment. Not accepting this doesn’t make one evil, but it’s a flaw, and a correctable flaw. Well-meaning people should recognize this flaw and try to correct it.

That’s it. The South isn’t bad, and Southerners aren’t bad. But there’s still a problem here.

Authority and culture in America in general, but especially in the South, were the active and deadly enemy, akin to 1930s Nazi Germany or apartheid South Africa, of black people, for most of American history. Only very, very recently was the South not overwhelmingly dangerous and hostile to the possibility of free lives, justice, and dignity for black people… and parts still are (modern sundown towns like Vidor, TX come to my mind).

Apologies if this is a hijack.