Class warfare in Dixieland

[mitty14u2]

Source: Salon - Alternet

Despite platitudes about opportunity, America's southern states suffer the greatest income inequality


The website Equality-Of-Opportunity.org was established this year by four leading economists from Harvard and Berkeley, and it now headlines their major findings, “Mobility in the 100 Largest Commuting Zones.” It ranks all 100 largest U.S. cities for the chances of a person born poor to rise from the bottom 20% to the top 20%.

Whereas all of the top 21 cities (NYC being ranked #21) are shown clustered there closely around 10% for the given place’s odds that a resident born in the bottom 20% will rise into the top 20%, all except just three of the bottom 21 cities are in Old Dixie. Here, the probabilities of rising from the bottom 20% to the top 20% range widely, between just 6.7% (one-third less than in the best locales) down to merely 2.6% (around one-quarter of the probability in the best locales), among these 21 bottom-ranked cities.

In other words: virtually all of this nation’s class-rigidity still remains in the U.S. South, even after the Civil War. New Dixie has replaced the aristocracy’s black slaves of Old Dixie, by the local (white) aristocracy’s institutionalized bigotry against poor people, now of all ethnic groups. What used to be their purely racist bigotry has, it seems, devolved into a crushing, pervasive, classist, bigotry in the South.



Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/12/20/class_warfare_in_dixieland/

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I grew up in the north, a working class neighborhood but spent two decades in the south, off and on moving back and forth. The first thing I noticed was lower pay, the second was no benefits from many construction companies in lower medium wage jobs.

No Social Security, No Workman’s Comp, No Insurance, many could not read or write, another big thing was the Civil War, you would think it just ended and Civil War vets are still coming home, they blame Blacks to Yankees for all there wows.

Prejudice is away of life, the confederate flag is kept as a reminder of all whom have fallen and to rise again, no matter who pays as long as its Yankees and Blacks.

They love cheep labor and keeping many of the citizens ignorant, not dumb but un-education as possible, education is far down the ladder of priorities, that they exploit.

Religion is a mixture of dictating politics to the local judges favorite way of sentencing those who commit crime, your life could be balanced on what church you attend and God forgives they don’t if you don’t go to church.

[Thinkingabout]

1. I wish I could say this article is wrong but it is not. For these reasons I do not understand why

The residences of Dixieland continues to vote against their best interest. Apparently they do not understand there could be a better life for them but they keep the GOP in power and life gets worse. I love the South but I do not love the results of these one issue voters when all the other issues is breaking the South. I know it has a lot to do with the leftover Klan bunch and their ministers preaching bigotry but lets start holding the office holders accountable.

[DinahMoeHum]

3. Suggest you check out this article from a few years ago. . .

. . .and then maybe we can understand the persistent bigotry/learned helplessness dichotomy evident in too many white Southern workers.

http://www.salon.com/2010/09/07/southern_labor_history/

[Thinkingabout]

6. I remember the migrant workers who did not have to worry about being deported.

The early workers in the labor movement faced real challenges, and I am sorry to say when corporations went from state to state getting the "Right-to-Work" bills passed, they promised there would be so many corporations arriving in the states workers would have to be brought in to handle the need. It never happened, the sludge left over from years ago did not hold.

[Brigid]

8. Wow.

There is just so much labor history that most Americans do not know. And if anyone thinks this is an accident, I have a bridge to sell you.

[surrealAmerican]

2. Those class mobility stats are abysmally low ...

... in all parts of this country. We in the north ought not be congratulating ourselves over a 10% rate either.

[HoneychildMooseMoss]

15. I agree

There are low wages and low social mobility in all states, red, blue and purple.

[Diego_Native 2012]

4. Having grown up in the Heart of Dixie

I can assure you this is all too real. I recall my sister going to work for a law firm as an AA. She was told, point blank, you don't get breaks, you don't get paid time off, you have 20 minutes for lunch. Of course, no benefits either. When I was younger, I worked for a restaurant putting in about 70 hours a week...no OT there either. I didn't last long, you can be sure.

Social mobility in Mobile, Alabama is governed by the Good Ole Boy network. There are a lot of old money families that have a lock on the professions, from judges to doctors to elected officials. It was common knowledge that if you wanted to get ahead, you had to leave the state.

[walkingman]

5. You are describing Texas perfectly

Prejudice is alive and well in Texas, especially in the rural areas. The Texas justice system is definitely an injustice system where wealth is all that matters.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. The District Attorney refuses to prosecute good ole boys.

They won't even bring evidence to a grand jury, in the case of a particular serial sex offender I know about.

And if you get arrested, you'd better get local counsel, because the judge won't listen to your attorney if he's from another county and not part of the local good ole boy network.

[Rstrstx]

12. Interesting if you look at the list

Texas cities aren't near the bottom but generally run towards the middle, with the highest being Brownsville (20th) and El Paso (24th), two Hispanic democratic strongholds in the state.

[JI7]

7. and the poor whites who vote republican are worried about duck dynasty

they probably have never seen the photos of them looking similar to the Romney sons.

[mitty14u2]

10. Black-Eyed Peas

If you are planning to celebrate the New Year in the Southeast, it is most likely that you will be offered black-eyed peas in some form, either just after midnight or on New Year's Day. From grand gala gourmet dinners to small casual gatherings with friends and family, these flavorful legumes are traditionally, according to Southern folklore, the first food to be eaten on New Year's Day for luck and prosperity throughout the year ahead.

The practice of eating black-eyed peas for luck is generally believed to date back to the Civil War. At first planted as food for livestock, and later a food staple for slaves in the South, the fields of black-eyed peas were ignored as Sherman's troops destroyed or stole other crops, thereby giving the humble, but nourishing, black-eyed pea an important role as a major food source for surviving Confederates.

Today, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas for the New Year has evolved into a number of variations and embellishments of the luck and prosperity theme including:

http://gosoutheast.about.com/od/restaurantslocalcuisine/a/blackeyedpeas.htm

The South has not Forgotten the Civil War, nor should anyone of us, I have a Big Old Ham Bone and Black Eye Peas Ready for the slow cooker!

[Brigid]

11. For us Irish, it's corned beef and cabbage.

But ham and black-eyed peas sounds yummy.

[groundloop]

13. I LOVE black eyed peas. Always have them and some turnip greens on New Years Day....

Black eyed peas for luck, turnip greens for money.

And as far as the OP, I have a hunch that one of the reasons that the lowest 20% here in the south don't climb the income ladder as often as in other regions is partly due to the fact that they are starting the climb from a much lower position. Poorer, less educated, etc. And of course we can't forget the repressive laws pushed by the right wing, and the lack of higher paying union jobs.

[pampango]

14. AND US economic mobility is worse than practically any other developed country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socio-economic_mobility_in_the_United_States#Comparisons_with_other_countries

So class stratification in the South is really the worst of the worst. (I wonder what the UK has done to rank below the US in mobility.)

[socialist_n_TN]

16. Cameron and the Tories.......

Have copied the neo-liberal playbook from U.S. Republicans, while Labour has copied the Third Way Democratic playbook. Et voila! We have our reasons why the U.K. ranks below the U.S. in mobility.