Are many people in the south inherently racist?

Question

Now I do not mean all people but I do mean a lot of people. I formed this point of view from my trips and stays in the south as a white truck driver. In the north the fact that the south was once a rebel union really never comes to mind. This seems to be ever-present in the minds of many southerners though. There seems to be a disliking of “Yankees” and their ways that is rampant in the south. As though they stopped being allowed to hate black people publicly so their natural racist attitudes turned towards hating the north.

I never feel very safe in the south. This inherent racism, widespread acceptance of Christianity along with its perceived laws, and often remote locations (thereby producing uncultured, small-minded citizens) make me very nervous.

Now, I don’t know what percentage of southerners my views apply to. Maybe only 1% of southerners fit this stereotype but from my very own personal experience that would be a very, very vocal 1%.

Also, on the opposite side of the coin I have met some very cool people in the south and I admire many of what I perceive to be southern cultures and traditions.

Are you from the north or the south? Have you spent much time in either place? What is your view on this? Is the south inherently racist?

Wow Nola,

Well you fly that rebel flag high okay? Forget what it truly represents to the hearts of those whose ancestors were made into slaves, tortured, and treated like sub-humans for hundreds of years! Forget all of that because what’s more important is Pride in an event that happened over a hundred years ago and that you never actually took place in.

Second, I have had a couple people point out to me that “racism” is not inherited. Although, who knows, maybe it actually is, I did not mean that racism was genetically inherited. I was using it to explain the idea of something handed down from generation to generation, even if that only be an ideology.

Answer 1

Religion divides people.
Believing in religion deeply divides people deeply.

Southerners can believe deeply indeed.

Answer 2

Excuse me, buster, but I'm a native Southerner and proud of it! Racism STARTED IN THE NEW ENGLAND states, with the African slave trade, centuries ago! Last time I checked on a map, the New England states are considered Yankee territory! There is NO such thing as "inherited racism"--it's TAUGHT by parents and peers! And there are plenty of Yankees who STILL think the South and ALL Southerners are a bunch of dumb country hicks who don't have good sense! I had an uncle by marriage (now deceased) who was a die-hard Yankee and HATED the South and Southerners, although, inexplicably, he married a Southern girl--my aunt.
If you dare, go to amazon dot com and order the book, The South Was Right! and READ IT, for the REAL story on the so-called "civil war:, which was in actuality the War for Southern Independence! There are plenty of DOCUMENTED cases of YANKEE atrocities committed on Southern soil, against helpless people. It was a war of aggression against the Southern people and culture with the intention being to STAMP OUT the Southern people and culture altogether. Lincoln's army officers were given PROMOTIONS for killing Southerners. I could go on and on and on, but it was YOUR Yankee ancestors who FORCED the South to fight! It was YOUR Yankee ancestors who were RACIST and hated blacks and after the war, Yankee propaganda and lies promoted racism in the South. If the war had never happened, the South would not have a modern history of racism---it's due directly to Yankee propaganda!
It was the Yankee government, controlled by Yankee BANKERS who were evil and power hungry who started the war of 1861-1865; it was done because the South was going to secede because Southerners had a TOTALLY DIFFERENT LIFESTLYE from the Yankees and we were prosperous, and the Yankee bankers couldn't STAND that, so they forced a war and destroyed the Southern economy in the process. My state to this day has never fully recovered from the Yankee-induced horrors of Reconstruction and the damn carpet baggers.

Answer 3

that's in basic terms a geographical sterotype i've got been to Atlanta Georgia , Austin Texas, and Birmingham Alabama, different than for the accessory there have been some somewhat effective human beings there i does not be suprised if it became actually safer than maximum cities interior the north, nonetheless the north has Flint, i'm from Canada, probable extra ideal commonly used as a results of fact the large white north i will wager you think of I drink beer, consume returned Viscount St. Albans, and rigidity a snowmobile actually yet I stay in midwestern ontario and the snowmobiling season is barely 2 months long on the main which truly sucks seeing as I dropped approximately 7 grand into my sled

Answer 4

Yes, fanatical Christiany is widespread in the South and racism still exists. Just this morning, as I was walking to work, I saw a teddy bear hanging from a tree. That's South Georgia for you, where the Confederate flag still flies strong.

Answer 5

I am a southerner and while racism and prejudice are alive and well in the deep south I have found they are practiced in north as well. I have met northerners that hear my accent and immediately assume I am a backwards hick without education.

Sorry to hear your visit here left a bad taste.

Answer 6

I live in the South. There is, obviously, racism in the South's history, and it persists today in some people. But it's not "inherent" -- no babies are BORN racists. Some people are, however, taught to be racists, generally by their families.

Answer 7

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that a very small, very vocal group represents a larger group (remember the "moral majority"?).

I think you probably just managed to observe some loud-mouths in the truck stops.

Answer 8

That's hard to say... I mean the newer generations aren't racist, but like my southern grandmother... she doesn't really hate people of other races, but she seems to still be aware that "they are black(or whatever), and I am white, and they are different". It's not her fault by any means, it's more of a southern thing.

Answer 9

is your short sighted opinion based on the people you have met in truck stop rest rooms?

Answer 10

No ignorance is perpetuated through teaching.