Why Most Southerners are Liberals at Heart

[tinfoil tiaras]

Okay. Strange title, I know, considering the South has almost always gone in the other direction. But anyways, in my 14 years of experience of living in the Southern United States, most of the people I have met have been kind, compassionante, generous and always always always very polite (in a good way...not the scary zombie way), all charectaristics of, guess what, liberals.

At church small youth group tonight, we talked about the tragedy in Darfur and I was amazed by the depth of concern for these people in Africa. One girl in particular, I observed. She appeared to be very disturbed when the youth pastor said that over 280,000 people have been killed and I saw her rack her brain all night trying to think of ways to help the people in Darfur. Most of the other kids followed suit, which was amazing. Needless to say, I was quite moved by all of this and thought to myself, "These kids are liberals and they don't even know it. They're doing what Christians are called to do. Help the least among us." And, here comes the ultimante irony: they probably call themselves Republicans.

Most likely because mommy and daddy are "Republicans", though I can tell that former hard-right people are slowly (and fastly-is that a word?) moving toward the center because of all this bullshit King George has pulled and are, quite frankly, ashamed to be associated with him or his nearly destroyed Republican Party. People's eyes down here are opening, slowly but surely. The Republican party can no longer play the Southern population as a bunch of 'yes-men' recneck hillbillies that vote straight Republican all the time. Mississippi, in particular, is opening itself up to new ideas. I see more LTTE's that are critical to the administration everyday (though there still some from the loud and proud nutso minority). I even read somewhere that Mississippi's approval rating of King George is less than 50%. Who would of dreamed of that just a few years ago. Mississippi, the haven of all things godly and Republican, would be slowly opening it's eyes and saying to itself "wow...what the hell have I been doing?"

Now don't get me wrong, we have tons more progress to make. People are still more scared of a few black teenagers than a sketchy old white man and whatnot, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. We need time. And maybe, sometime down the road, Mississippi will be a semi-bluish-purple spot in the bright red south.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

1. I think you have hit on something - talk about a problem without politics,

and you many times get a liberal or progressive answer. However, that changes if mommie and daddy have been spouting Republican talking points on an issue. In your example, since the Bushco Regime pretty much ignores Darfur, except for occasionally calling for the government there to stop the killing, the kids get to form their own opinions and have not been pre-programmed to think a certain way. Bet if the subject had been gay marriage or another big "conservative" wedge issue, their reactions would have not been open-minded at all. (Especially in church!)

[tinfoil tiaras]

2. Of course not

There's so much anti-gay bigotry around here it isn't even funny. And that's one of the way the South needs to progress. It's (well, most of the south) learned to accept black people as equals, so the next step is to get past the homophobia that's clouding their vision. The church (some churches) used to sanction segregation, also, just like their sanctioning this hatred for gays.

[Cleita]

3. I don't want to be bitchy, but why are you afraid of the

black teenagers? I'm apprehensive of any teenagers moving around in a pack, myself. But I'm not afraid of them. Why just the black ones?

This could be at the bottom of your inability to move towards true liberalism. Society just brainwashes everyone into fearing those who are the least among them and then blaming them for anything that happens they don't understand.

[tinfoil tiaras]

4. No, I'm not afraid of them

I was just saying most people i know. Sorry if i came across that way. I view all sketchy people the same, no matter their skin color. I'm probably the least racist person in the area.

[frustrated_lefty]

5. My experience has been

that most teens stand around, look sulky and mutter under their breath. I've had my life threatened on several occasions, always by young black men. I've lived in predominantly black neighborhoods is several cities around the country. Middle aged people seem to be willing to move past racial tensions. But, there's a lot, and I mean a LOT, of animosity in younger black teens.

To clarify, I think that anger is justified. Society has dealt these kids a raw deal. The anger is just misdirected sometimes. It seems foolish to me to deny the existence of that anger. Whatever fear it may inspire though is something to consider thoughtfully. It's a powerful force, and might be directed towards constructive purposes within communities, districts and states.

just thots-

-fl

[Cleita]

6. Perhaps since you live in predominantly black neighborhoods,

you are bound to run into black hostile teens. I find the white ones in my predominantly, white ranching neighborhood to be rather hostile too. They just don't like people who are older than them.

[frustrated_lefty]

7. That's a reasonable conclusion,

except that I've also lived in more affluent, predominantly caucasian neighborhoods as well. The level of animosity, in my experience, has been different by orders of magnitude. I've had a couple of groups of white kids edge up on me, try and surround me or pin me in a corner. Just paying attention and letting them visually cue into the fact that I was aware of what was happening was enough to make them bail and look for an easier target. In contrast, I had one black gentleman walk up to me face-to-face and demand a cigarette and then threaten my life if I didn't give him one. I've passed a group of black teens and heard: "there's getting to be too many white people here, it may be time to get rid of one." In the aftermath of Katrina, I had a group of young black men chase me through the waters of New Orleans hollering how they were going to rape and kill me.

Now, part of me hates pointing these things out. It sounds racist, maybe it's the view of a racist in denial, ya' know? The reason I continue to mention these incidents, among others, is that I think American society is stacked against black citizens. These citizens deserve a better shot, a fair deal, an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams. Until that equal playing field comes into existence, there will be resentment, there will be tensions.

It's sad. Our Bill of Rights begins with the word "we." Two hundred plus years later, we're still just barely learning the meaning of "we."