Unfortunately, it is entirely believable. Expected, even, for any state in the Confederacy and several outside the Confederacy. Republicans will exert every lever of power they have to preserve white domination of government at all levels.
Unfortunately, it is entirely believable. Expected, even, for any state in the Confederacy and several outside the Confederacy. Republicans will exert every lever of power they have to preserve white domination of government at all levels.
Look at parts of the north in terms of violence agains Black people. Minnesota really shocked me. All the killings of young Black men and women in all corners of the country. Shameful.
Yes, there is plenty of racism in the north, no doubt about it. I live in Connecticut and there is racism here but we aren't electing racists as our leaders. We aren't passing laws that enforce racism. That' the difference.
Nobody said the North is free of systemic racism, but the South is worse, far worse. In the North, тАЬonlyтАЭ 60% of white people favor systemic racism. In the South, itтАЩs 70% to 80%.
The South is low - hanging fruit, yes, but they're painting targets on themselves. Despite not having much of a Southern accent, some guy called me Goober or Gomer on a previous job.
Psst! New York State is RED in ideology. Now itтАЩs becoming Red politically. As a matter of fact, most of the Governors & Representatives past & present have been Democrats in name only. Few if any of them have been truly Liberal. Mostly Conservative-leaning Centrists. (I posted in yesterday Letter that Centrists are mostly people who want to keep the Establishment alive and itтАЩs hierarchy system going so they donтАЩt lose their place it it).
Yes. Instead, factories and businesses had to make do with labor abuses instead of true slavery while the owners whistled Dixie all the way to the bank. Many sadly had to change their tune for a little while after the Wall Street Crash and Depression that followed.
Let's not get too carried away with our South-bashing and try to remember that some truly fine people live there alongside the bigoted haters and they are working hard to effect positive change. Check out Kyle Whitmire and J.D. Crowe at AL.com if you don't believe me. Also Patrick Skinner (Skinnerpm) on Twitter. The South has many problems as does the rest of our poor benighted land but at least the weather is generally warm and so are the people.
During the Civil War my great-great granddaddy lived in an area in SE Texas called the Big Thicket, a large very dense forest just north of where my family and I live. He did not believe in the cause of the South, and did not want to fight in the war, so he and the men hid out in the thicket while the women would sneak in food and supplies at the edge of the forest. I am a proud TexanтАжareformed Republican, now Democrat. I cannot allow them control over me! Like my grandfather, I will stay in Texas and work hard to turn it Blue! There are many others like meтАжplease donтАЩt judge all of Texans by the divisive, hate filled, bigoted comments you hear or read in the тАЬnewsтАЭ!
Keep fining like-minded people and work for change. A lot of people are moving in to Texas. That's why they got 2 more electoral votes after the 2020 census and California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia lost one vote.
What she said. Also note, South-bashers, that you seem to be erasing the millions upon millions of southerners who are Black, brown, and otherwise not white.
I donтАЩt think anyone blames systemic racism on black or brown voters. If Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi made it easy for black people to vote, instead of throwing every possible roadblock in the way, no Republican would hold an office elected by statewide voting in those states. Republicans would still control the legislatures and US House contingents, however, because the districts are gerrymandered to nullify the votes of the black people who manage, through persistent determination, to cast votes, having overcome the obstacles that the white power structure puts in their way.
Yes, there are many fine people there, just as there were fine people in the Confederacy, but as long as they keep electing bigots for their government, those fine people aren't accomplishing much. They aren't making reasonable laws, so should we accept the bigotry of the leaders because there are fine people living there?
William, I for one would love for you to tell me how to elect dems in a severely gerrymandered state. You read above, I presume, about repubs тАЬcrackingтАЭ Nashville. ThatтАЩs just one instance, but this is the way it is all over the state. Please, I look forward to your suggestions.
тАЬMany fine peopleтАЭ doesnтАЩt cut it. What matters is the percentage of fine people, and that percentage is not high enough in the South (and many states in the North, too) to effectively combat systemic racism. The incident that prompted this discussion occurred in Tennessee, and only the na├пve are surprised by this latest example of injustice perpetrated by the legislatiors that the white people In Tennessee put in office.
Carolyn, I absolutely agree with you. I loved living in Florida and loved the people. I hate the politicians, north and south, for allowing this violence to sweep through the land.
J.D. Crowe!! and so many great musicians...Bill Monroe himself broke the color barrier in the '20s. The South is not a monolith of bigots.The majority of African Americans in the US live there. Jimmy Carter and others like him defy white southern stereotypes. Let's don't let fear and prejudice dehumanize any region of the country.
But those non dissenting voices sure run off fast to hospitals in Portland, Oregon when they have covid, need critical or trauma care. Not any different here in western North Carolina, they go to Atlanta or Asheville and are happy to be taken care of by black and brown nurses and staff.
But, walk around any Northern state and you will find that all of them also are practicing apartheid. In some ways more than the south. Honestly.
When I was growing up in East Texas, after 1966 or 1967, I went to a fully integrated public school. And? Nobody thought that was a big deal AND, even though nobody in the north believes me when I say this, there was no racial issue within the school. All folks treated each other reasonably well, outside of a few normal fistfights in middle and early high school (almost exclusively between the white boys and that all that stopped later when those boys could really hurt each other).
Fast forward to my old man status (63), where I live in mid sized northern town where it used to be cold in the winter.
The public school in my suburban town is essentially all white. Has been since all of the white folks in the city migrated to the burbs in the late 60's and 70's.
All of the all white, suburban schools do bus in 10 or so blacks into the school from the city. Mostly, this is an effort to put together a good basketball team for sports.
At any rate, AMERICA is still practicing Apartheid Elizabeth. In some ways, more so in the north than the south, because, in the north, rural schools are all white. Down south they are fully integrated, black, Mexican and white.
Lastly, the most racist President of my lifetime? Yep. From NY City. Trump.
I know you guys get tired of reading this perspective, but, honestly, it is true (for me and my life data anyway).
Mike, my dadтАЩs best friend was from East Texas. I agree. You missed my other comment about the apartheid in the north. I grew up in New York City and my life was completely integrated with all races, all ethnicities and all income groups. I always went to public school and public university. Our country was founded on apartheid and has continued to practice it, in spite of many areas of тАЬprogressтАЭ. We have to work on change wherever we can. тАЬGood work done anywhere is good work done everywhereтАж.тАЭ Maya Angelou.
тАЬLook at parts of the north in terms of violence agains Black people. Minnesota really shocked me. All the killings of young Black men and women in all corners of the country. Shameful.тАЬ
For years I helped run/support a recruiting gala for Hispanics and Latinos in this town. It was well attended. I think it helped. I met others dedicated to the same goals. A good part of my life for sure.
Now, I tutor at a local place where Puerto Rican kids come for help in math (and I work on the English too).
I did volunteer in the Black Community for a few years as a tutor, but, I was not very effective. I have my hypotheses about why (my own limitations) but.....
Sometimes I'm not overly proud of being Southern. I don't even have much of an accent. Maybe my subconscious is making me more Northern. This cousin manages to use " Y'all " as if she's channeling Paula Deen. She even put it in a speech.
I beg to differ. Infuriating and disheartening as the events in Tennessee yesterday may have been, I predict that they will mark the beginning of the end for the Racist Republican Party in that state and, ultimately, across this nation. Most of the young people who have protested in Nashville and across the state cannot vote. Yet. But they will be able to vote soon, and that will lead to a change In Tennessee that no amount of gerrymandering can prevent. It is up to us older (and in my case old) folks to help the process along.
He is a hypocrite. HeтАЩs been gaming the system for decades and, once he felt unleashed, has demonstrated his high-minded disdain for everyone, except those who can benefit him. He once went to seminary to study for the priesthood but left bc he felt racial bias. He doesnтАЩt seem to see his own glaring biases.
It may truly be up to their generation. These are young Black men who were expelled and their ability to speak before the crowd puts any old white male to shame.
Tennessean here: this legislature displays boundless arrogance and self-righteousness. They have since the beginning. The governor looks up, sees TX or FL, and says тАЬhey, letтАЩs do that too.тАЭ One of the adults killed in Nashville was a friend of his wifeтАЩs. Do you think that mattered to anyone? Listen to the demeaning way Andrew Farmer, rep from Sevierville, spoke to Pearson yesterdayтАФas if Pearson was a naughty child.
Unfortunately, it is entirely believable. Expected, even, for any state in the Confederacy and several outside the Confederacy. Republicans will exert every lever of power they have to preserve white domination of government at all levels.
Rex, the south is still practicing apartheid.
The South is still the unreconstructed Confederacy.
Look at parts of the north in terms of violence agains Black people. Minnesota really shocked me. All the killings of young Black men and women in all corners of the country. Shameful.
The great American racist diaspora.
Racism was never reserved for the South nor did it originate there.
However, it makes some folks feel better about themselves to blame and accuse "the South" for the inner demons that plague the US
Yes, there is plenty of racism in the north, no doubt about it. I live in Connecticut and there is racism here but we aren't electing racists as our leaders. We aren't passing laws that enforce racism. That' the difference.
Nobody said the North is free of systemic racism, but the South is worse, far worse. In the North, тАЬonlyтАЭ 60% of white people favor systemic racism. In the South, itтАЩs 70% to 80%.
Can you provide links to verify this ? It's not that I doubt you, I just prefer verification at times.
Exit polls. Easily found by anyone with internet access.
The South is low - hanging fruit, yes, but they're painting targets on themselves. Despite not having much of a Southern accent, some guy called me Goober or Gomer on a previous job.
Psst! New York State is RED in ideology. Now itтАЩs becoming Red politically. As a matter of fact, most of the Governors & Representatives past & present have been Democrats in name only. Few if any of them have been truly Liberal. Mostly Conservative-leaning Centrists. (I posted in yesterday Letter that Centrists are mostly people who want to keep the Establishment alive and itтАЩs hierarchy system going so they donтАЩt lose their place it it).
Amen. If New York were geographically switched with Maryland, it would've joined the Confederacy.
Yes. Instead, factories and businesses had to make do with labor abuses instead of true slavery while the owners whistled Dixie all the way to the bank. Many sadly had to change their tune for a little while after the Wall Street Crash and Depression that followed.
Even the Great Emancipator Lincoln used the N - word in some of his correspondence, or so I have heard. I can Google it.
Dear Commenters,
Let's not get too carried away with our South-bashing and try to remember that some truly fine people live there alongside the bigoted haters and they are working hard to effect positive change. Check out Kyle Whitmire and J.D. Crowe at AL.com if you don't believe me. Also Patrick Skinner (Skinnerpm) on Twitter. The South has many problems as does the rest of our poor benighted land but at least the weather is generally warm and so are the people.
During the Civil War my great-great granddaddy lived in an area in SE Texas called the Big Thicket, a large very dense forest just north of where my family and I live. He did not believe in the cause of the South, and did not want to fight in the war, so he and the men hid out in the thicket while the women would sneak in food and supplies at the edge of the forest. I am a proud TexanтАжareformed Republican, now Democrat. I cannot allow them control over me! Like my grandfather, I will stay in Texas and work hard to turn it Blue! There are many others like meтАжplease donтАЩt judge all of Texans by the divisive, hate filled, bigoted comments you hear or read in the тАЬnewsтАЭ!
Keep fining like-minded people and work for change. A lot of people are moving in to Texas. That's why they got 2 more electoral votes after the 2020 census and California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia lost one vote.
There is power in numbers. Go for it!
What she said. Also note, South-bashers, that you seem to be erasing the millions upon millions of southerners who are Black, brown, and otherwise not white.
I donтАЩt think anyone blames systemic racism on black or brown voters. If Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi made it easy for black people to vote, instead of throwing every possible roadblock in the way, no Republican would hold an office elected by statewide voting in those states. Republicans would still control the legislatures and US House contingents, however, because the districts are gerrymandered to nullify the votes of the black people who manage, through persistent determination, to cast votes, having overcome the obstacles that the white power structure puts in their way.
Yes, there are many fine people there, just as there were fine people in the Confederacy, but as long as they keep electing bigots for their government, those fine people aren't accomplishing much. They aren't making reasonable laws, so should we accept the bigotry of the leaders because there are fine people living there?
William, I for one would love for you to tell me how to elect dems in a severely gerrymandered state. You read above, I presume, about repubs тАЬcrackingтАЭ Nashville. ThatтАЩs just one instance, but this is the way it is all over the state. Please, I look forward to your suggestions.
тАЬMany fine peopleтАЭ doesnтАЩt cut it. What matters is the percentage of fine people, and that percentage is not high enough in the South (and many states in the North, too) to effectively combat systemic racism. The incident that prompted this discussion occurred in Tennessee, and only the na├пve are surprised by this latest example of injustice perpetrated by the legislatiors that the white people In Tennessee put in office.
Carolyn, I absolutely agree with you. I loved living in Florida and loved the people. I hate the politicians, north and south, for allowing this violence to sweep through the land.
The politicians were elected by those people you liked so much.
J.D. Crowe!! and so many great musicians...Bill Monroe himself broke the color barrier in the '20s. The South is not a monolith of bigots.The majority of African Americans in the US live there. Jimmy Carter and others like him defy white southern stereotypes. Let's don't let fear and prejudice dehumanize any region of the country.
I live in Idaho. Not just the south. And no dissenting voices.
But those non dissenting voices sure run off fast to hospitals in Portland, Oregon when they have covid, need critical or trauma care. Not any different here in western North Carolina, they go to Atlanta or Asheville and are happy to be taken care of by black and brown nurses and staff.
Idaho is the Oklahoma of the Rockies.
And/or the "GOP" has been very busy summoning it's ghost.
Elisabeth,
"the south is still practicing apartheid"
Yes, you are right.
But, walk around any Northern state and you will find that all of them also are practicing apartheid. In some ways more than the south. Honestly.
When I was growing up in East Texas, after 1966 or 1967, I went to a fully integrated public school. And? Nobody thought that was a big deal AND, even though nobody in the north believes me when I say this, there was no racial issue within the school. All folks treated each other reasonably well, outside of a few normal fistfights in middle and early high school (almost exclusively between the white boys and that all that stopped later when those boys could really hurt each other).
Fast forward to my old man status (63), where I live in mid sized northern town where it used to be cold in the winter.
The public school in my suburban town is essentially all white. Has been since all of the white folks in the city migrated to the burbs in the late 60's and 70's.
All of the all white, suburban schools do bus in 10 or so blacks into the school from the city. Mostly, this is an effort to put together a good basketball team for sports.
At any rate, AMERICA is still practicing Apartheid Elizabeth. In some ways, more so in the north than the south, because, in the north, rural schools are all white. Down south they are fully integrated, black, Mexican and white.
Lastly, the most racist President of my lifetime? Yep. From NY City. Trump.
I know you guys get tired of reading this perspective, but, honestly, it is true (for me and my life data anyway).
Mike, my dadтАЩs best friend was from East Texas. I agree. You missed my other comment about the apartheid in the north. I grew up in New York City and my life was completely integrated with all races, all ethnicities and all income groups. I always went to public school and public university. Our country was founded on apartheid and has continued to practice it, in spite of many areas of тАЬprogressтАЭ. We have to work on change wherever we can. тАЬGood work done anywhere is good work done everywhereтАж.тАЭ Maya Angelou.
Mike, here is my comment about the north:
тАЬLook at parts of the north in terms of violence agains Black people. Minnesota really shocked me. All the killings of young Black men and women in all corners of the country. Shameful.тАЬ
Elisabeth: KKK in Minnesota.
https://collections.mnhs.org/mnhistorymagazine/articles/61/v61i08p360-371.pdf
Very active.
Elisabeth,
"We have to work on change wherever we can"
Yes we can.
For years I helped run/support a recruiting gala for Hispanics and Latinos in this town. It was well attended. I think it helped. I met others dedicated to the same goals. A good part of my life for sure.
Now, I tutor at a local place where Puerto Rican kids come for help in math (and I work on the English too).
I did volunteer in the Black Community for a few years as a tutor, but, I was not very effective. I have my hypotheses about why (my own limitations) but.....
I did my best. Which, was not very good.
Mike S, my experience mirrors yours. You are spot on.
Only the south?
Come...
For right-wing treachery look no further than Wisconsin!
And as far West as ID & MT
Sometimes I'm not overly proud of being Southern. I don't even have much of an accent. Maybe my subconscious is making me more Northern. This cousin manages to use " Y'all " as if she's channeling Paula Deen. She even put it in a speech.
I beg to differ. Infuriating and disheartening as the events in Tennessee yesterday may have been, I predict that they will mark the beginning of the end for the Racist Republican Party in that state and, ultimately, across this nation. Most of the young people who have protested in Nashville and across the state cannot vote. Yet. But they will be able to vote soon, and that will lead to a change In Tennessee that no amount of gerrymandering can prevent. It is up to us older (and in my case old) folks to help the process along.
This is also what I believe is going to happen. What the GOP and their MAGA faction are doing now will be their UNDOING!
Now letтАЩs remove Clarence Thomas and clean house in the SCOTUS!!!
He is a hypocrite. HeтАЩs been gaming the system for decades and, once he felt unleashed, has demonstrated his high-minded disdain for everyone, except those who can benefit him. He once went to seminary to study for the priesthood but left bc he felt racial bias. He doesnтАЩt seem to see his own glaring biases.
It may truly be up to their generation. These are young Black men who were expelled and their ability to speak before the crowd puts any old white male to shame.
Yes, sometimes bad news events bring about good news in the end.
Remember hosing black kids in the Sixties? People were outraged. Change happened with the Civll Rights bill of 1964.
Do something! Be the change you want to see.
Tennessean here: this legislature displays boundless arrogance and self-righteousness. They have since the beginning. The governor looks up, sees TX or FL, and says тАЬhey, letтАЩs do that too.тАЭ One of the adults killed in Nashville was a friend of his wifeтАЩs. Do you think that mattered to anyone? Listen to the demeaning way Andrew Farmer, rep from Sevierville, spoke to Pearson yesterdayтАФas if Pearson was a naughty child.