Is it always racism?

[WinterHold]

I met a member or two here that were so into Trump since 2017, they were Christian of course and they put their bids on Trump. I just want to sense the real scale of the irony now that he was exposed -or began to be exposed-.

I want to sense the Saudies too and the shock of Trump's selling them; perhaps its near.

We have our mess, you have your mess. How about you work on your mess, we work on ours?

Some Americans love to export this crap outside so we must confront them

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Well, this is happening:

https://kutv.com/news/nation-world/georg...disgusting

I'm very tempted to encourage them to make the challenge more authentic by rendering the prone person unconscious and continue to kneel on them for two or three more minutes.

Disgusting. It's sad to see the South resurrected

[The Grand Nudger]

The south never died buddy.

[Drich]

If a white person whose life is not directly threatened intentionally and casually continues to kill a black person anyway, is that racism? Fuck yeah.
I don't recall that cop "accidentally on purpose" ever killing a white dude.

Dude, racism is alive and well in America. Acknowledge that simple fact first. Otherwise you can't fix a problem which doesn't exist.
Which is exactly what a racist would argue me thinks...

don't know sport, tony timpa looks white to me:
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/investig...pa-s-life/

..and no one gave a shit, nothing burned down no laws were changed.

I myself was detained this way for some time till they figured out i wasn't the DC sniper. cops are taught if you can speak you can breath.

[arewethereyet]

The south never died buddy.

Sure didn't.  Witnessed proof of that every day of the twenty years I spent in SC.

[The Grand Nudger]

As a counterpoint, if you don't mind sharing. Did you ever notice in your experience of the southern culture that those who've rejected racism -as- southerners -in- the south are more certain in their convictions, which cost them more with their peers, than the offhanded "no, ofc not's" of yankees who would prefer to turn away from their own regions history as though it never happened, and in fact, wasn't still happening?

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to veer into lost cause mythology...but southerners of today can very often be victims of the victors writing history - and there's no disputing that the north wrote history and made the south pay for it. We used to be the center and source of american culture (arguably still are, lol)...and could be again.

In my experience having lived all over...obviously anecdotal...southerners are simply more open with their racism, as southerners are generally more open about everything - which is an endearing cultural difference in almost any other context. Paula Deen territory. If she just stuck to making biscuits everybody would still love her.

[arewethereyet]

I'm not really sure how to answer you.

I was in a strange position having been born in the south but with a southern mother and midwestern father. We moved to the Midwest when I was two and I returned to south when I was nearly 30. It doesn't help in Klanland to be not only what's considered to be a Yankee but also to have been raised Catholic. Add to that the fact that I had never been racist and I was looked on with a lot of suspicion.

Truthfully, I didn't come across many South Carolinians who were not racist. Both personally and professionally. The more educated and advanced in their profession, the more I was taken off guard by their blatant racist leaning. It was just so damn ingrained in the culture. There was no escaping it. There were people I expected it from like Bubba at the local hardware store. I walked out of there one day with my hands over my son's ears and never went back. I did notice that a lot of the older generations (like my husband's grandparents and his mother) used the N word with no change in inflection. It just tripped over their lips as though it meant nothing.

My kids being military brats were used to having a very diverse group of friends. Once off the base and in the backwoods of Bumfuck, SC their friendships with kids of color (especially black) brought on nasty remarks, threats, and some kids not being allowed to associate with my kids. One of the most vocal in the community in trying to smear us for my kids having black friends and my 'allowing' them in the house later became the grandmother of a biracial child...I often wondered if that changed her views after that. I do know one woman who was known to go to Klan rallies who took about ten years to finally accept her biracial grandson. Her daughter lived with us for a while after her mother threw her out of the house for dating the boy's father.

My son dated a biracial girl for two years while in HS. After a football game one night a teammate approached me in the parking lot to tell me how many of them were unhappy about that and that I should not allow it to continue. It came from all ages and backgrounds.

A neighbor we were close to and sort of took in as family after his divorce stunned me one day. We were just talking about things in general and I said something about The Civil War. He had fire in his eyes when he looked at me and said, "That's the war of Northern Aggression to you, Missy."

Never have I been so happy to see a place in my review mirror.

[downbeatplumb]

As a counterpoint, if you don't mind sharing.  Did you ever notice in your experience of the southern culture that those who've rejected racism -as- southerners -in- the south are more certain in their convictions, which cost them more with their peers, than the offhanded "no, ofc not's" of yankees who would prefer to turn away from their own regions history as though it never happened, and in fact, wasn't still happening?

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to veer into lost cause mythology...but southerners of today can very often be victims of the victors writing history - and there's no disputing that the north wrote history and made the south pay for it.  We used to be the center and source of american culture (arguably still are, lol)...and could be again.

In my experience having lived all over...obviously anecdotal...southerners are simply more open with their racism, as southerners are generally more open about everything - which is an endearing cultural difference in almost any other context.  Paula Deen territory.  If she just stuck to making biscuits everybody would still love her.

From what I can tell from across the pond, US southerners are more open with racism because they don't see it as being wrong. Its not endearing, its terrifying that otherwise charming people turn out to have monstrous views so ingrained that they are genuinely surprised that people not from their locality don't share them.

[The Grand Nudger]

It's the openness that's endearing, not the bigotry. As you say, otherwise charming people.

They're surprised when people from their locality disagree with them too. Probably even more surprised. We're in their tribe. They expect us to agree with them and most of the time don;t disagree with a single thing we say. Must be confusing that we reach entirely disparate conclusions.

Strange but true...they're not challenged or afraid of the coastal libs, or the yankees.... at all, but our existence threatens their very identity.

[arewethereyet]

I suppose that the openness is something, though I struggle to say it's endearing.

One thing is for sure and that is that it doesn't take long to learn that you should expect racism from everyone...everyone.

Klansmen in their robes walking down the highway and statues of Klansmen in front yards were things I never got used to. The sign that went up every month announcing the next Klan rally and inviting the public to same almost made me wreck my car the first time I saw it. The rebel flag was so common as to not garner any notice after a few years. I didn't like it but they were nearly as common as those miserable damn pine trees.

What people are seeing now on a national stage with racism being out there loud and proud isn't news in the deep south.

[The Grand Nudger]

I was happy to put it in my rearview too, the deep south at least.  Mostly for the heat.  I've never been able to properly explain myself in this climate.

As for the war of northern aggression and pine trees....

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all the good times are passed and gone
all the good times are over.
all the good times are passed and gone 
little darlin don't you weep no more

Now can't you see that lonesome dove 
flying from pine to pine
he's mourning for his own true love
just like I mourn for mine

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