Is the south really as backwards as I've been told?

[Yax]

My company is owned by a larger International company. They sent someone over to America to work with us. They first sent him to Mississippi. He hated it there because he thought America was supposed to be a great country, but all he encountered was hatred for him. Restaurant owners telling him he can't eat there because he wasn't white; poor white people warning their kids about how bad blacks were right infront of them, etc, etc.

He was then transferred out here in the west. When he came to our state, he was amazed at the difference. So, is it really true that those southerners are as backwards, ignorant and prejudice as he claims?

 

[BatmanNate]

They have good food.

 

[FoBoT]

mississippi and "The South" aren't the same thing. mississippi is part of the south, but not vice versa (so to speak, what i mean is you can't judge all of GA, SC, NC, AL, MS, etc from one experience in MS)

exactly where in mississippi was he?

my wife grew up in the atlanta area and we lived there for a couple of years. i traveled all over georgia and northern alabama for work, things like that are often related to the size of the city you are talking about . making generalizations against southerners is just as bad as the biased southerners that are still around

 

[WinkOsmosis]

I would think it depends on the state. I have no trouble believing Mississippi is like that. It's not being backwards, that's just their culture, and no amount of education will change it.

I should say that racism isn't confined to the south or America. Some of the most vehement racism I've seen was in Trinidad. Some Indian people really hate blacks. If my uncle didn't have a Caribbean accent, you wouldn't know he wasn't a Mississippi shotgun toting redneck. But he changed his ways and joined a Hindu cult or something.

 

[Parrotheader]

To be sure, there are still plenty of backwood areas and even people in larger urban areas who epitomize what other people think of as Southern rednecks. But then again, you could say the same thing for many parts of the country.

Edit: After rereading your question I SERIOUSLY have a hard time believing he wasn't served at a restaurant due to the color of his skin unless they sent him to THE most backwater parts imaginable - and even then it's pretty difficult to fathom. This just sounds like deluded tripe to me.

A lot of people hear a southern accent and automatically apply their stereotypes. As someone who grew up in the South it can be frustrating. Fortunately, it also provides me with an avenue to open their eyes a little.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: Parrotheader
To be sure, there are still plenty of backwood areas and even people in larger urban areas who epitomize what other people think of as Southern rednecks. But then again, you could say the same thing for many parts of the country.

But a lot of people hear a southern accent and automatically apply their stereotypes.

Much better than what happens when people hear an African American accent wouldn't you say?

 

[Amused]

I have trouble believing your friend was denied entry to restaurants in Miss. Unless he was there before 1970 or so.

I lived in GA, SC and NC, and can truthfully say that all were wonderful places to live and the racism was no worse, and sometimes better than CA. It was MUCH better than the Midwest, where I'm at now.

 

[AnyMal]

I don't buy his story either. I've lived in the South for 13 years and traveled all over the country. There are bigots and racists everywhere. Southerners tend to be more hospitable and respectful to strangers. Ask any stranger in South for directions and they will go out of their way to help you; by contrast ask for directions in NY and you are lickely to be told off.

 

[Yax]

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I don't buy his story either. I've lived in the South for 13 years and traveled all over the country. There are bigots and racists everywhere. Southerners tend to be more hospitable and respectful to strangers. Ask any stranger in South for directions and they will go out of their way to help you; by contrast ask for directions in NY and you are lickely to be told off.

The real question is: are you white? I'd like to hear from some color folks. They'll know the real deal.

 

[WarmAndSCSI]

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01
My company is owned by a larger International company. They sent someone over to America to work with us. They first sent him to Mississippi. He hated it there because he thought America was supposed to be a great country, but all he encountered was hatred for him. Restaurant owners telling him he can't eat there because he wasn't white; poor white people warning their kids about how bad blacks were right infront of them, etc, etc.

He was then transferred out here in the west. When he came to our state, he was amazed at the difference. So, is it really true that those southerners are as backwards, ignorant and prejudice as he claims?

Yes, they are. I've lived in Middle-of-Nowhere, Arkansas for 6 years. Everything you've heard is probably true.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: AnyMal
Ask any stranger in South for directions and they will go out of their way to help you;

If you're white.

 

[Parrotheader]

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I don't buy his story either. I've lived in the South for 13 years and traveled all over the country. There are bigots and racists everywhere. Southerners tend to be more hospitable and respectful to strangers. Ask any stranger in South for directions and they will go out of their way to help you; by contrast ask for directions in NY and you are lickely to be told off.

The real question is: are you white? I'd like to hear from some color folks. They'll know the real deal.

LOL! Nevermind. It's obvious you only want an answer to confirm your own stereotypes or this whole thing is just a setup. And "color folks"?? Isn't that pretty much on the same level of the subject of your question?

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Amused
I have trouble believing your friend was denied entry to restaurants in Miss. Unless he was there before 1970 or so.

I lived in GA, SC and NC, and can truthfully say that all were wonderful places to live and the racism was no worse, and sometimes better than CA. It was MUCH better than the Midwest, where I'm at now.

I agree. There are areas of MS (and other southern states) that are pretty backwards, but you're not going to be denied entrance to a restaurant these days based on the color of your skin.

As for the southeast in general, I guess it depends on what your definition of "backwards" is. If you venture out into the rural areas you'll encounter some rather "interesting" people, but aside from the accent they could be rural "interesting" people anywhere in the US. Venture into one of the larger cities like Atlanta and you'd never even know you're in the south. Hell, Atlanta is one of the most integrated cities around.....for example, many of our state and local government representatives are something other than white. Our mayor is black AND female.......that's not very "backwards" IMO.

 

[rickn]

yup, I had my daily dirt clod this morning.

 

[Spamela]

there are racists all over, except the south had racism massively institutionalized & are still paying for it.

i live in california & we have plenty (including some sad-sack KKK members).

i hate to generalize, but you're probably going to find more racism amongst poorer, less-educated people, regardless of the state or area.

 

[Yax]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
mississippi and "The South" aren't the same thing. mississippi is part of the south, but not vice versa (so to speak, what i mean is you can't judge all of GA, SC, NC, AL, MS, etc from one experience in MS)

exactly where in mississippi was he?

my wife grew up in the atlanta area and we lived there for a couple of years. i traveled all over georgia and northern alabama for work, things like that are often related to the size of the city you are talking about . making generalizations against southerners is just as bad as the biased southerners that are still around

I believe it was Greenville. As another example, we sent two "white" employees down there and they had a black coworker girl show them around. She refused to sit in the front seat. She said they could be shot if she was seen in the front seat with a white guy driving.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: FoBoT
mississippi and "The South" aren't the same thing. mississippi is part of the south, but not vice versa (so to speak, what i mean is you can't judge all of GA, SC, NC, AL, MS, etc from one experience in MS)

exactly where in mississippi was he?

my wife grew up in the atlanta area and we lived there for a couple of years. i traveled all over georgia and northern alabama for work, things like that are often related to the size of the city you are talking about . making generalizations against southerners is just as bad as the biased southerners that are still around

I believe it was Greenville. As another example, we sent two "white" employees down there and they had a black coworker girl show them around. She refused to sit in the front seat. She said they could be shot if she was seen in the front seat with a white guy driving.

Unless this was in 1956 I think your coworker is full of it.

 

[Yax]

Originally posted by: Parrotheader

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I don't buy his story either. I've lived in the South for 13 years and traveled all over the country. There are bigots and racists everywhere. Southerners tend to be more hospitable and respectful to strangers. Ask any stranger in South for directions and they will go out of their way to help you; by contrast ask for directions in NY and you are lickely to be told off.

The real question is: are you white? I'd like to hear from some color folks. They'll know the real deal.

LOL! Nevermind. It's obvious you only want an answer to confirm your own stereotypes. And "color folks"?? Isn't that pretty much on the same level of the subject of your question?

Think about it, if you were white you probably would be treated kindly but if not then would you be treated the same way? You're saying yes, but if you were white how would you know?

 

[HokieESM]

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I don't buy his story either. I've lived in the South for 13 years and traveled all over the country. There are bigots and racists everywhere. Southerners tend to be more hospitable and respectful to strangers. Ask any stranger in South for directions and they will go out of their way to help you; by contrast ask for directions in NY and you are lickely to be told off.

The real question is: are you white? I'd like to hear from some color folks. They'll know the real deal.

Cheapbidder--I'm white... and I don't know what to tell you about Mississippi, but I've lived in NC or VA for all my life. I've visited many places, but the "South" has always been my home. I will tell you this about bigotry/racism--it varies a LOT. And its more person-dependent than geographic. I personally have not witnessed any of the "open" hostility like you describe--but I have heard some name-calling. But I've also met quite a few "southerners" who really don't feel that way--and don't act that way. Racism in the South, just like most places (and it definitely DOES exist in other places), is something that is usually kept very quiet.

I will say this: as far as African-Americans go, the South has a much larger percentage than other places in the country. Especially if you're looking at state-wide averages. I think the reason that the South is most noted for racism today is mostly because there are more day-to-day interactions between races here than anywhere.

You also shouldn't forget that the bulk of the population, no matter where you go, is composed of reasonably "good" people... no matter what. I've found that, despite the stereotypes, that most people are nice when you treat them well. When I visited NYC over last summer, sure, I met a few very rude people--but I also met some very nice ones and everything in between. So if you travel to the South, you might meet a racist.... but you'll probably also meet 99 people who aren't.

 

[Parrotheader]

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: Parrotheader

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I don't buy his story either. I've lived in the South for 13 years and traveled all over the country. There are bigots and racists everywhere. Southerners tend to be more hospitable and respectful to strangers. Ask any stranger in South for directions and they will go out of their way to help you; by contrast ask for directions in NY and you are lickely to be told off.

The real question is: are you white? I'd like to hear from some color folks. They'll know the real deal.

LOL! Nevermind. It's obvious you only want an answer to confirm your own stereotypes. And "color folks"?? Isn't that pretty much on the same level of the subject of your question?

Think about it, if you were white you probably would be treated kindly but if not then would you be treated the same way? You're saying yes, but if you were white how would you know?

Yes, I've somehow been able to escape the broader reality of my surroundings for the past 27 years. You know, I never even noticed it was humid here before until somebody brought it up in a thread awhile back.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: Parrotheader

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I don't buy his story either. I've lived in the South for 13 years and traveled all over the country. There are bigots and racists everywhere. Southerners tend to be more hospitable and respectful to strangers. Ask any stranger in South for directions and they will go out of their way to help you; by contrast ask for directions in NY and you are lickely to be told off.

The real question is: are you white? I'd like to hear from some color folks. They'll know the real deal.

LOL! Nevermind. It's obvious you only want an answer to confirm your own stereotypes. And "color folks"?? Isn't that pretty much on the same level of the subject of your question?

Think about it, if you were white you probably would be treated kindly but if not then would you be treated the same way? You're saying yes, but if you were white how would you know?

We who live in the south have all given you essentially the same answer and you're not listening. Is it going to take me asking one of my many minority coworkers about their experiences and relaying them to you?

Wait? WTF is going on with me having non-white coworkers in non-janitorial or even superior-to-me positions? I thought the south was backward?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: FoBoT
mississippi and "The South" aren't the same thing. mississippi is part of the south, but not vice versa (so to speak, what i mean is you can't judge all of GA, SC, NC, AL, MS, etc from one experience in MS)

exactly where in mississippi was he?

my wife grew up in the atlanta area and we lived there for a couple of years. i traveled all over georgia and northern alabama for work, things like that are often related to the size of the city you are talking about . making generalizations against southerners is just as bad as the biased southerners that are still around

I believe it was Greenville. As another example, we sent two "white" employees down there and they had a black coworker girl show them around. She refused to sit in the front seat. She said they could be shot if she was seen in the front seat with a white guy driving.

Now I'm calling bullsh!t.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: Parrotheader

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: Parrotheader

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I don't buy his story either. I've lived in the South for 13 years and traveled all over the country. There are bigots and racists everywhere. Southerners tend to be more hospitable and respectful to strangers. Ask any stranger in South for directions and they will go out of their way to help you; by contrast ask for directions in NY and you are lickely to be told off.

The real question is: are you white? I'd like to hear from some color folks. They'll know the real deal.

LOL! Nevermind. It's obvious you only want an answer to confirm your own stereotypes. And "color folks"?? Isn't that pretty much on the same level of the subject of your question?

Think about it, if you were white you probably would be treated kindly but if not then would you be treated the same way? You're saying yes, but if you were white how would you know?

Yes, I've somehow been able to escape the broader reality of my surroundings for the past 27 years. You know, I never even noticed it was humid here before until somebody brought it up in a thread awhile back.

You'd be surprised what people don't notice.

 

[Dedpuhl]

Most of the people in Southern Louisiana are not backwards. They are just really stupid...

 

[hdeck]

i've lived in the south all of my life (lousiana, georgia, and texas) as well as been to the states in between and never have i encountered or heard of anything like that.