RE: Is it always racism?
June 3, 2020 at 4:07 pm
(This post was last modified: June 3, 2020 at 4:17 pm by 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.
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.
I'm your huckleberry.
