I'm from the south.

[Jamastiene]

64. I saw a white lady wearing a poodle skirt today.

I'm in rural NC. It was 2013, not the 1950s. It was a Halloween costume. There was a sale at a specialty rock fashion store in town. She was walking with an African American lady and they were talking as they walked. Their conversation did not look particularly heated or even strained in any way. They looked like they were comparing Halloween costumes and nothing more. So, was she the racist or am I for not seeing the same kind of racism today that you saw in the 50s? I am not saying it is not there. There is plenty of racism to go around all over the world, not just the south or just the U.S., but the entire world. But the south today is nothing like it was in the 1950s.

When my aunt was stationed in Fort McClellan in the 1950s, the WACs were told not to go out in public with mixed race friendships, because it would cause harm to African American friends and the African American communities down there. I would be interested to know if they still have the same rule today. I doubt they need it now.

Granted, the south does have a sordid history of horrible racism that was systemic and amounted to no less than terrorism. If the U.S. government would do the right thing and count domestic terrorists as the terrorists they are and charge them for terrorism instead of murder, a lot of that crap might be reigned in some.

My point is that while the south does have a terrible history and a terrible problem when it comes to mouthy racist jerks, we also have a lot of people who are of different races and are friends, husbands, wives, their children, etc. It is not a constant terrorism laden hell in the South every day down here like it was in the past. It is also not a daily KKK rally in the streets of the South like some people seem to think, at least going by their attitude toward everyone in the south. Is there still racism? Yes, but it is not as prevalent was it was back then.