"This is where we used to hang black people."
"Why is one of the chickens black and white and the rest are brown?"
"That's my Obama chicken."
"His name makes me think of the cartoon."
"N!@@er."
Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama had it right when she said, "people need a passport to come down here." Venturing into any portion of Alabama outside a few "metropolitan" areas should require not only the aforementioned passport, but a check of one's sanity as well. Rural Alabama is a study in the accuracy of sterotypes, and sadly the argument that the racist stereotypes are few do not hold up to any kind of scrutiny.
The racism that is still so very pervasive among some in the deep south amazes me. These folks work shoulder-to-shoulder with people different than them and once they are free from earshot the things they would never say to that individual's face fly. Race, creed, political affiliation, religious persuasion, sexuality, all these things become fodder for their hateful words. And how is all of it prefaced?
"I'm not racist, but..."
That phrase right there irritates me more than any other because it's a dichotomy. Those words only prove the idea that the speaker is indeed racist because, for whatever reason, the speaker feels as if it absolves them of the hate they are about to spew. It doesn't. It doesn't absolve anything.
Everyone is racist, whether they admit it or not. It is not in human nature to not be racist in some way. I could give countless examples, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to do so. My head and my heart are weary from this trip into the heart of darkness that is my home state. All I will say is that this latest episode and introduction to some more of the residents of this place only go to the list of reasons why I hope that one day we will bid it adieu.
(And yes I am aware that racists are everywhere. I even know them to exist in the great frozen utopia to the north. But speaking as one that has changed their address 31 different times in 10 different states and three different countries, it seems far more prevalent here than anywhere else I've ever been.)
20081130
Just adding to the list
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6 comments:
I once went to see an old academic who was a friend of Flannery O'Connor speak about her work. He complained about the "Disneyfication" of the South and insisted that the South had become just like everyone else. It was clear to me that he'd never set foot anywhere in the south outside of a school, hotel, or urban area. Flannery O'Connor's south is very much still with us.
Hey, I hear ya'... I hear this kind of thing all the time and it irritates the crap out of me.
So very true and so very, very sad.
Going back to visit family in Virginia is tough - so I can't imagine making it out of Alabama alive...
Come back up north - we love everyone here!
Christall
Oh sugar, I feel ya. I married into a bigoted family, and family events can be...distressing.
I finally told them that my son would not be at family events if they couldn't guard their tongues, and proceeded to follow through with the threat by removing him when someone didn't keep his racial/cultural bias to himself; stood up in the middle of dinner, told my husband he could stay if he liked but he'd have to get a ride home, and took the Evil Genius out to the van.
They've learned that the Damn Yankee Transplant actually does have some starch in her, if only for her son's sake.
Ugh. I just don't understand how someone can judge based on something as superficial as pigment!
You'd be surprised at the extent of racism in the Detroit area; especially when people are looking for work. The Metro area is such a hodge podge of cultures, we even have the large Arab population in the country, but it always comes down to white vs black going back to the riots in '68.
Funny thing I saw the other day: the current owners of the house my wife grew up in have a big Confederate flag hanging in their window. I guess they haven't figured out just how far north they are.
Yep...Alabama is the twilight zone of the country. My dad lives in Montgomery, and I feel like I've gone back in time forty years every time I visit him. Very. Very. Scary.
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