When I was growing up, I remember my parents talking about how my grandparents were living down the road from a "salt and pepper couple". When I asked what that meant, I was told that it referred to an interracial mairrage. As I was growing up, I was told over and over again that "blacks and whites don't mix." Once I was even told that there's a verse in the Bible that says "Keep to your own race." (For those that don't know, there's not a verse like that anywhere in my Bible.)
Now I'm considerably older. I work at a Dollar Tree as a cashier now. Same state, same region. But things seem to have changed a bit. It's obvious that attitudes about interracial relationships are improving. I see interracial couples every day now, many with children. There's even a regular customer with a large family, many of the children (perhaps her grandchildren, I've never asked) being black. It's a sign of hopeful change that warms your heart, I can assure you, to see that woman hold those children and call them her babies, giving them affectionate kisses in front of God and everyone. Today there was a white woman who walked in with her latino husband or boyfriend. They had a child with them, and I was impressed to see the woman, who for all intents and purposes fit the stereotype of a lower-class Arkansan, speaking perfect Spanish.
But there's something more surprising. From where I'm standing, it seems as if there's increasing tolerance toward gays and lesbians as well. I've seen several obviously gay couples come in the store together, one of them with a little boy. More and more when you talk to people here, you find that they could care less what other people do in their bedrooms, and alot of people freely admit to having gay friends and family who they care deeply for. I can also happily say, that of all the people who qualify as my many friends and family, not one of them has had a bad reaction yet to me coming out. To be fair, that may say more about the people I love than the south itself, and the job is not yet done and someone is bound to have a problem with it somewhere along the way. Still, things seem hopeful on that front as well.
However, there's still a long way to go. I went to a little store once, and I should have known what I was getting myself into when I walked in under a huge rebel flag, only to find that they sold bumper stickers that declared "Work:It's the white thing to do!" and "Feed the Grizzlies:Turn them loose on MLK day!" My hometown of Wynne, AR still suffers from self segregation, with "black town" sitting "across the tracks". When black families move into the white neighborhoods, you see a sudden increase in the number of homes for sell. More heartbreaking was a story a friend of mine shared with me tonight. Her family is taking a nineteen year old girl into their home. The girl is pregnant, and the father is black. Her mother had taken her today to have the child aborted, but when she refused she was ordered out of the house. Still, for every horror story, I seem to find one more thing to draw hope from.
The south is changing, there's no doubt about that. Still, there is also no doubt that we have a long way to go. But this tiny little world can't resist the winds of change blowing in from the vastness of the outside abyss. The changes I've seen have taken place in the span of a little more than a decade. I am sure, that within my lifetime (and giving my family history that may not be a particularly long one mind you) we will see a south reborn, where the old hatreds and fears lay dead and a truly God fearing people embrace not the evils of a false faith but the true teachings of love and brotherhood found in the Gospels. Obviously, these things are all viewed through the lense of my own perspective, and I hold no illusion that it is not, in some manner, slightly warped. I can't back anything up with data and numbers, as much as I'd like to. But I can share what I see and what I feel, and say with certainty that the South is on its way home.