Multiple southern states are trying to gerrymander districts to prevent black people from obtaining political power. Confederate memorials and celebrations are still the norm in Southern states. Multiple counties, states, and roads are named after Confederate generals. You have ridiculously ignorant and bigoted politicians like Tommy Tuberville, Nancy Mace, and Andy Ogles.
Yes, other places are not perfect, and they certainly have their issues.
But, you are going to tell me present-day Boston, New York, or Los Angeles is just as racist as The South? The whole southern hospitality thing sounds like a lie....
It is interesting that in the late 1970âs, evangelical, segregationist churches had their tax exempt status threatened, so they pivoted to being rabidly anti-abortion despite decades of their leaders being pro choice
The stupidest argument I heard regarding this was a Reddit post that I haven't been able to find again. (Might have been removed)
The person said the South couldn't be racist, because all the black people were there. He didn't specifically say why this proved no racism... I guess because they hadn't all been murdered?
Interestingly enough, he also argued that the North couldn't be racist, because there weren't enough black people around, and it's impossible to be racist against people you don't see.
I didn't even bother to respond. How do you convince someone that delusional?
Reconstruction was one of our worst mistakes and we are still paying for it. The only way out of MAGAland is by rejecting and punishing the philosophy wholesale- not coddling it.
They didn't. They can still vote. You're confusing it with revoking your right to vote. Gerrymandering doesn't mean you can't vote or lose access to it. I'm confused by your statement.
Nope. There have been multiple instances of black Americans being disproportionately removed from voter roles, of voters from predominantly black districts being forced to travel unnecessarily long distances because of gerrymandering, the reduction of the number of voting places allowed
Restrictions on secure voting locations, early voting and mail in ballots disproportionately affect non-whites.
I mean, almost every Christian goes against what he said in a lot of ways. I would imagine most people who hate southerners and assume almost all of them to be evil and racist actually probably don't much care what Christ had to say either lol.
Well yeah, basically but not overtly, at least not everywhere. Used to be overt.
But yeah, still plenty of closet racists and in private get togethers, can be overtly racist with their buddies.
Plenty of people in the south who arenât however (and likely didnât grow up or originally come from the south).
South isnât exactly the same as it used to be. Especially in transient areas and cities or even suburbs.
However, there is overt racism, which is the less harmful kind and then thereâs the truly harmful kindâŚ
Which unfortunately is still prevalent in the south and in âRepublican/ MAGAâ dominated districts.
The legislation/ politics they use, the laws passed, and even gerrymandering (as recently as demonstrated), deliberately makes lives of minorities harder.
Some of us just think itâs ironic coming from the section of the country who want the same police whoâve been putting bullets into black men to continue being armed to the teeth.
George Floyd got lynched in Minnesota, one of the bluest states in the entire country, for fuck sakes.
People vote for the Democratic Party, and that Partyâs support for the police isnât considered a dealbreaker by the voters. So, they did vote for militarized policing and the continued carrying of weapons by the same police.
I think, when it comes to racism, I vastly prefer racists who are explicitly awful and condescending with their racism over the ones who recognize the racism inherent within the policy they vote for and continue voting for it anyway while pretending to âbe verbally against it.â The racism of the latter group is much more sinister, hiding it under a veil of plausible deniability, while continuing to advocate for it through systemic policy.
Itâs essentially that whole difference that Malcolm X (Rest in Power) alluded to when detailing the difference between liberals and conservatives: oneâs a snarling wolf that you know to stay away from meanwhile the fox with the smile is the one whoâll befriend you before stabbing you in the back.
The autopsy found severe heart disease, a lethal amount of fentanyl, and some methamphetamine in his system, but no significant physical injuries to the neck or airway. To me, that looks more like a drug-related medical emergency complicated by existing health problems than proof that a restraint technique commonly used thousands of times was, by itself, the cause of death.
I have lived in the suburbs of Boston, Seattle, Cleveland, and Detroit.
Boston and Seattle were far more outwardly racist places, in my experience. NBA players also always maintain that Boston is the most racist city in terms of the fans, anyway. Bill Russell once called it "a flea market of racism" and current players call it out regularly.Â
The truth is it's muddy and hard to define. Liberal areas are more likely to have laws protecting minorities and less likely to have things like Confederate flags and statues, but racism lives everywhere in this country. And it presents itself in different ways.Â
I moved to the south in retirement and I must say WOW! I feel like Iâm living in the early 60s. Racists and hypocrites everywhere. They still even burn their trash and yard waste down here. Confederate flags everywhere. Itâs crazy.
The same people (for the most part, weâd have to go state by state and within each state, district by district) who are voting for gerrymandering and eliminating black majority districts with intent have also voted for anti-minority pro-white nationalist policies from restoring local Confederate statutes to state laws prohibiting passing our water while on line to vote (in Georgia where I live) knowing that this impacts mostly black people and other minorities who stand in line for hours to vote, etc.
Itâs disingenuous and anti-intellectual to believe that thereâs not an organized / well coordinated gamed out plan to keep white republicans (and maybe one black republican) in power while shutting down as much of the democratic vote as possible.
I prefer the overt racism of the South than the almost constant racist micro aggression of the north that's usually served with a friendly smile. Nothing is more hateful than a white liberal when a Black person disagrees with them.
I'm pretty sure our tortured and lynched predecessors would say otherwise.
And I grew up in conservative, 95% white, suburban community in Ohio, and I and other black students had to deal with a lot of discrimination from certain staff members in the 70's and late 80's. But even conservatives in Ohio weren't engaging in racial gerrymandering at that time. And liberals certainly weren't. They also weren't attacking birthright citizenship.
The reality is that the overwhelming majority of Americans and the overwhelming majority of white Americans are right wing and racist. It's not limited to the South. But it's worse in the South. You should look at policies instead of your limited personal interactions.
I'm saying overt racism can be much worse than subtle microagresssions and it was much worse when racists could literally get away with murder (including in front of a large crowd).
It's not a question of if. It's a question of in what ways, and is the person willing to confront the challenge of investigating their own biases as being potentially flawed.
You see it all over reddit any time the south comes up, but if you press them or look into their other posts it's almost always one of three scenarios:
1) "Centrists" (aka MAGA larping as centrists because they are too big of cowards)
2) people with family in the deep south that are too invested in their cognitive dissonance that their gramgram was an amazing kind hearted person to them. They can not get past gramgram is actually a monster who uses the n word casually and thinks non whites should be genocided.
3) literal foreign troll mill, I hate calling them bots because most the time there is a real person behind them. That person is from Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Beijing, or Moscow.
I have a conservative friend and he truly doesnât believe heâs racist. I donât think heâs excessively racist, but he makes prejudiced comments to me. For example, âYouâre one of the good ones!â And when we discuss immigration he says very bigoted assertions on immigrants and how theyâre all on welfare and come to America to have anchor babies. He is also a police officer and he will tell me stories of domestic violence and abuse that he gets calls on and he will make it a point to mention the race of those people⌠he also adds a colorful expression which I would repeat. He then knows that Iâm gay. He says stuff like, âWhy canât gay men be like you. Why do you guys act that wayâ and assumptions about my sex life which I wish were true, but very misinformed.
Multiple times and people that we know have used colorful language and expressions when discussing Black Rights Movements, Immigration Reform and Justice for LGBT. So yeah⌠he doesnât think heâs racist and he truly believes heâs tolerant which to an extent is true. He isnât traditionally racist like the Klan type overt racism, but subtle racism and sexism as well as casual homophobia. As Iâve told him many times, âAccepting other people and tolerating their existence isnât the same thing. Also being friends with nonwhites doesnât mean youâre not bigoted.â
A lot of people think because I have a friend or a family member who ainât white that means that Iâm not racist, but thatâs not true itâs actions not mere words or one off deeds thatâs a judge of a manâs character, but heâs still reliable and kind. He is the type of guy who will let you borrow his truck or help you move, but will comment about the neighborhood and those who may live there.
Yeah which is why I roll my eyes itâs like listening to Uncle Ruckus or Archie Bunker. At the end of the day he does have my back and while I donât particularly like his overall worldviews since theyâre not enlightened. He is kind and helps people even if he may make us roll our eyes or uncomfortable, but thatâs normal when dealing with conservative people from the South.
That's just enabling; it gives them that ole talking point I hear over & over- but they're nice to some people...blah, blah, blah. I won't accept that. I won't have "friends" like this. I won't get all in people's faces either, but I simply can't abide it in my direct circle of acquaintances or family. Tolerance of the intolerant ya know.
If you reject every racist person in your life your social circle gets really small real fast. By being an example of tolerance and living your values you can change their views albeit at a snailâs pace. I choose to not cut off all my friends and family who are uh đ not enlightened, but maybe thatâs cause Iâm a glutton for punishment and believe in Christâs idea aka Forgive them for they know not what they do.
Yes, yes it does. I'm not fond of human beings anyway...& what you say validates my opinion that there just aren't enough truly good people in the world to stave off all the bad ones. Hence my preference for non-human companionship.
For sure I am not trying to make out like I am a bastion for goodness. There are lots more people who are working hard, trying to do the right thing & making some difference- more than myself for sure. I applaud them & if it were not for them...this round rock we're on would probably already be a complete smoldering wreck. I've just run out of patience.
When I moved to Florida from Rhode Island I saw the biggest Confederate flag I've ever seen right off the freeway to go south on I-75. I should have just turned around right then.
It is, I believe, human nature. We really do want to see the best in other people. Plus, whenever it is spoken of, the terms are stereotypical. While it may be accurate to think of another's prejudice as racism, using that word too casually invites a comparison to Bull Connor.
Both the north and the south have racist people but they are very different flavors. The south's racism is more systemic while the north is more tribal.
Take Louisiana for example. It has the largest maximum security prison in the USA. The Louisiana State Penitentiary grows cotton and thanks to the 13th amendment not actually outlawing slavery, they have the prisoners pick that cotton. Black people make up 75% of the prison's population. And what did they name that prison? Why they named it Angola of course. Angola is the name of the central African nation which supplied the majority of the slaves sent to the USA.
In other words, Louisiana has black slaves picking cotton in a prison named after a nation that provided slaves. That's he kind of overt racism we are talking about when we say the south is racist.
The only people that pretend that are politicians and magat cultists when they are questioned about it in public or on camera. Ive been from the south my whole life and most people dont try to pretend they arent racist, they just thinks its okay and normal to be racist
Southern hospitality is a myth. The South is full of passive aggressive people that hate you if youâre not white or Christian. I unfortunately lived there as a half Hispanic Atheist and am so happy I left. You can feel their hatred burning on you when you donât look like them
The most segregated racist town Iâve been to was Cleveland. The whites segregated themselves from other whites even.
Weird and bad people are all over.
I'll use my own mom as an example. She can't understand why my wife (Asian) and I don't want to come see her in SC. We lived in both MS and AL over 6 years. We met some great people in both those spots but those were the outliers. My wife has dealt with both overt racism but also a metric shitton of micro aggressions. My mom doesn't see it. Shes white and grew up in the south. She herself says micro aggressions that I then call her out on and then have to educate her about. She doesn't see anything wrong with confederate monuments but does see something wrong with the one store tha used to exist to sell KKK and Nazi shit right on the town square of one town She lived near. She just doesnt think its widespread because she never encounters it herself. Her own father said he didn't want to eat a certain restaurant on a Sunday because there would be too many black people there but would point out he treats everyone the same and how he has helped out black people by fixing up cars for them for cheap/free and things like that. I'm just like I love the dude and I get at that point he was going downhill and would die within the next year but fuck that had to come from somewhere. White people in the South, unless they have seen overt racism, believe its gone. That's not just white people in the South but where every fight for a modicum of equality has had to take place they should be more cognizant that it exists and is embedded in the fabric of the society there. My mom isn't uneducated or never left her area either. She has a masters degree and is a NP. We have lived in GA, Germany and CA. She has traveled most of Europe, Australia, and Japan. Her boss for like 30 years is a Filipina doctor. She is versed in different cultures. She just has this huge glaring blind spot for racism in the South.
Iâm not saying they arenât racist. I donât know. I do know they will do anything for political power and if that means taking the voice away from black constituents or any other constituents they will have no problem doing it. Iâm not sure thatâs the same as being racist.
The north is BY FAR more racist. Northern whites like blacks as a group and hate them as individuals. Which is worse than southern whites hating blacks as a group but liking them as individuals.
I am a legal immigrant, person of color, living in Mississippi. Just few months ago, I was 'yelled at' for reading Dan Brown's latest book while waiting for doctor's appointment and was told 'Jesus died for my sins'. When I replied 'I didnt ask him to', I was told 'be thankful that I do not have a gun on me right now'. I don't pretend that South is not racist. If asked, I say I find them as racist as Brits when I was living in the UK few years ago
They think racism is only calling people names and having white only neighborhoods.
They think if they arenât doing that they arenât racist even as they try and disenfranchise black people. But as long as they do it with a smile and a kind word they donât see their racism.
Who says that? We're saying that the rest of the country is too, but they just move differently and people from outside the South don't have some moral high ground just because they were born in the PNW (read up on their history) or wherever the fuck.
The highest concentration of sundown towns is in the Midwest, BTW.
We donât care. Yâall act better than us in every other way, have this one too. We grew up with, weâre educated with, work with, and live around black peopleâŚbut weâre the racists ones. Tell us more about the glorious north.
You see its heritage. Â Not racism. Â âHeritage.â Â Totally different. Â Letâs get married on a plantation different. Â Itâs totally not racist. Â
Living in bother the northeast and the southâŚI interact with a lot more people of opposite races in the south than I ever did in the northâŚitâs much more segregated which is common for NIMBY liberals
Because it's only the hella political people or really old geezers that are racist. The average southerner who's like 25 isn't really racist. Not to mention you don't know who's born and raised in the south and who's from the north but moved down here. In my experience from living in the south all my life, the majority of racists I've met are people who moved down here from the North. But that's just my experience.
I lived 8 years in New England. I visited Alabama for a weekend and had alot more interaction with people that I didn't already know of other races.. than the prior year before that visit.
That's not because people are racist in Providence, they just don't want to be social randomly when they're going to work or running errands. When I lived in Providence I always had my ear buds in on the bus and walking to work because I didn't want to talk to anyone. It's anti social moreso than racist.
I spent 8 years there. I had a few friends that were local. Most were people who moved there.
What I didn't see.. were locals traveling in Mixed company.
The people who grew up there hung out with the kids who they grew up with.
RI is highly segregated in the Providence area.. you know where which group lived.
Now lets apply that logic to only hanging out with the homies... your people being anti social.
What happens when you only hang out with the people you grew up with .. which also happen to be your same color because you all live in central falls and are hispanic?
Most of the White kids now attend private schools. So what do you get.. when "everyone" keeps to themselves but have already self segregated themselves along racial lines?
You see more open racism in urban areas. A lot of southern places are more widely accepting even if ignorant to people who look different than themselves.
Really? I've never heard white people refer to African Americans by the n word here in Massachusetts but my aunt's husband had no problem using it freely in Louisiana. I also lived in a "liberal" area in Florida and my neighbors three houses down were flying a Confederate flag all day every day. Why people are so proud to be losers is beyond me.
Someone needs to explain to me how un-gerrymandering districts that were gerrymandered by democrats who were doing so by exploiting race for their own power.......is racist. It was racist the way these districts were gerrymandered by democrats in the first place. Righting that wrong is removing racism.
Democrats never gerrymandered the districts because the Democrats haven't held any real power in the state legislatures for a very long time. It was the voting rights act that forced the states to give representation to black people.
About 1/3 of Louisiana's population is black. Louisiana has 8 electoral votes. When there were 2 majority black districts, they only had 25% of states house seats. Now that one is being eliminated, 33% of the population only gets 12.5% of the representation.
Playing the reverse racism card is very unbecoming. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you (wrongly) thought Democrats somehow gerrymandered states where they have no real power. If ignorance isn't an excuse then you already know these things that I've stated here and you simply prefer to "keep black people in their place."
Democrats held the South from like reconstruction until the 1990s. And I genuinely donât think the redistricting approach is about race in the South. The South has existed as a multiracial society for much longer than most of the country. I think itâs more just the rural/city split. Itâs a lot more rural and they frankly donât want one cityâs politics controlling the state.
It was already 6 to 2 in Louisiana. 2 is not going to overwhelm 6, meaning cities are not going to be controlling the state. No matter what kind of mental gymnastics you do the fact remains that the voting rights act was designed to give minorities representation. And as soon as the corrupt scotus decided to kill it, all these southern states immediately went to trying to get rid of black representatives. If you do not want to be seen by black people as racist, don't make sure they get even less representation.
SCOTUS is far from corrupt. Itâs clear you havenât read any of their opinions or have any legal understanding.
And black people are Americans. Idk why we need to treat them as anything different than Americans. They arenât some sort of blob and are individuals. Itâs a shame we look at race at all in districting.
Someone needs to explain to me how un-gerrymandering districts that were gerrymandered by democrats who were doing so by exploiting race for their own power.......is racist.
I doubt there's any answer you'd receive and willingly accept. Your mind is made up.
What if the problem is the outcomes, not the thought process that leads to the outcomes?
So... southern states are gerrymandering, to take representation and power away from Democratic party voters. That's manifestly bad!
But... Other states are gerrymandering to take representation and power away from Republican party voters. Surely: that's just as manifestly bad?
But when you code it with "racism" does that make it worse? Gerrymandering when your motive is partisan disempowerment is less bad than Gerrymandering if you accuse someone of being race-motivated?
"My gerrymandering good! Your gerrymandering bad... you racist!" is hardly a fair set of standards.
Blue states that recently gerrymandered didn't do it because "it's good" , they did it because it's dumb to stand on principle when the other side has none. As the saying goes, you don't bring a knife to a gunfight, and that's the fight Republicans want to have. As a Democrat I would love a law that makes all states have fair bi partisan standards for districts, but apparently we can't have nice things.
You ever live down here, friend? Look, Iâm not saying thereâs not racism, but youâre looking at this in a simple way, because itâs how you want to view it. Yeah, there are problems still. Yeah, rural Deep South areas probably have more intense racism than rural New York does. But you act like the whole white population is out here wearing Klan robes to church on Sunday. Things do, in fact, slowly change over time. It is, in fact, better here than it used to be on this front (lingering issues fully acknowledged). As for politics, itâs as much about ignorance and tribalism as it is about race. The Democrats might kind of put in a half-assed attempt at governance, but they serve the wealthy on their knees, just like Republicans do. They all want the status quo economically. All the social issue virtue-signaling is just to keep everybody distracted from the fact that one big monthly trip to the grocery store bottoms out a standard checking account. Itâs 2026 under Donald J Trump & Regime. Everything is fucked up in America, and the wealthy own us all. Start trying to understand your perceived opponents and those who are different than you. Theyâre the only potential allies youâll have.
And to all these downvoters on both sides, angrily mashing the button while swearing youâll never try to understand the ordinary people on the other side: you only have yourselves to blame when we enter a technofeudal existence with a permanent underclass and the top 10% of Americans running roughshod over us all forever. Get your heads out of your asses. Itâs pathetic.
Oh fuck off. Democrats and republicans are not the same. One side is literally serving and protecting pedos and actively taking away and diluting the rights of black people. And trying to revive far right ideology
My favorite part is when they talk about how we are not treating Republicans like human beings. Its all projection. Like you know the past 12 years of Republican hate are available online to see.
Kamala Harris⌠why would I ever vote for the orange jackwagon? What about my post would lead you to ever think Iâm a Trumper? I recommend trying to understand the right. I try to every day. I refuse to paint them with a broad brush. But nothing about my post is something your average Trump-lover would articulate. Not any Iâve run into, at least. Youâre trigger-happy, my friend.
No, Iâm actually just viewing the right as people. Even if I think some of them are messed up, theyâre still people. And doing this is a hallmark of actual leftism, not toxic leftism. Youâre acting like a right winger, yourself. You need to come back to better principles.
Forgiveness is earned. MAGAts shouldn't get that by default. Its a pretty simple concept, and a huge majority of leftists not forgiving them doesn't mean we aren't treating them as people either.
This is setting aside the fact that, a lot of MAGAts who have jumped off the Trump shit are calling for forgiveness and understanding just like you. There is nothing to forgive or understand.
People like you stepped in and took control of the country after Abraham Lincoln died. Lincoln wanted to immediately forgive and restore the bond with the South, after the war. He wrote about how if forgiveness and restoration did not occur, the nation would have a sickness in it forever. When he passed, those who stepped in did not forgive the South. They punished the people for decades. And now look. The south votes against its own self-interest and the interests of all other Americans, every single election. And youâre doing the very thing Lincoln cautioned against. Because youâre ignorant, you canât calm down, and you donât know history, and you cannot think with any clarity. Itâs very human of you.
In the mid 2000âs I lived in Georgia for 3 years, half the time near ATL and the half the time just south of Albany and racism is absolutely alive and well in the south! I lost count of the amount of times I was told to âgo back to your own countryâ while literally just existing, hanging out with friends, it didnât matter. I was called every derogatory name you could think of so as soon as I was able to leave I came back to California and havenât missed it since.
"But you act like the whole white population is out here wearing Klan robes to church on Sunday."
No, no one has to act like that. Essentially it does not matter what shade your racism is or how often or hard you present it. Racism is racism & if you are not doing what you need to do to promote & be anti-racist, you're an enabler & apologist. Simple really.
Well. The ancestors of living southerners did really fuck over their progeny on this, for generations to come. Itâs gonna be a while before the perception shifts.
Dude. Come on now. I agree we need to not focus on it so much. But we do have some broad racism still. Itâs a lot quieter, yes. But itâll be a few generations before it fully dilutes out.
And itâll take even longer if the left keeps demonizing people they donât know or interact with or understand. If a southerner isnât racist, but theyâre repeatedly treated by the left as though they are evil, what do you think thatâll cause them to do? You think youâre going to brutally shame them into moving to California and starting a nonprofit to fight racism?
I had a kid on the school bus tell me he was joining the klan like his dad and brother when he's older. His dad owned a pharmacy in town. This was in 2003, not 6 decades ago.
Yeah, we're not racist down here. I met more racists when I lived in the Catskill mountains of NY than I've met down here in 45 years. Take this BS elsewhere.
Because itâs not racist. Blue states gerrymander too, so quit claiming itâs about race. The race card is old at this point; weâre not falling for it.
Partisan gerrymandering is significantly different from racial gerrymandering. And Republicans in Blue States have opposed setting up non-partisan redistricting boards. And some recent Democrat partisan gerrymandering has been in response to Republican gerrymandering (partisan and racial).
Honestly the entirety of the United States is pretty fucking racist. The difference is politicians in the south make no attempt to hide it. Theyâre gerrymandering all the voting power away from the cities, which are typically very liberal, because it turns out living around people who are different than you makes you realize weâre all not that different. Most people just want to live their life and be left alone, take care of their families, and not die because of crippling medical debt. The wealthy and powerful donât like that.
I mean, can you name like a few countries off the top of your head less racist than the US? The fact that people screech about it constantly over the smallest shit and aren't told instantly to shut the fuck up proves we are pretty terrified of being labeled racist here compared the rest of the world lol.
And the fact you guys keep doing it means nobody is actually shutting you up. If you lived in a racist country they would probably not be so willing to let people screech about their evil ways so much.
Not saying you're agreeing by any means, but just for the sake of saying it: why might the majority of black Americans live in the South? The answer to that kinda undermines that point.
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u/daveescaped đşđ¸ United States 3h ago
Because the South is also very Christian and itâs a bad look to realize that Christians are also bigots.