This morning in the Leaving for Las Vegas front page diary thread , we had a very heated discussion about Netroots Nation going South for a convention.
I didn't realize what was being done for NN2011 to be held in Providence. It's actually pretty neat and very socially responsible
However, that being said I would like to urge everyone to keep in mind that the reasons I have been given about not going South are that the hotels are not "labor-friendly or unionized". My suggestion was that we use this to draw attention to the matter that the South is generally not very organized labor friendly. Another diary that I would love to write.
But I still wonder if one of those commenting is right in his assertion that there is a bias against the South on this blog.
As my friend as said, take a look at the demographics of the national wingnuts these days. Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Steve King, Sharon Angle. None of those are Southerners. I'm sure that you can all name several others past or present that are Southerns. Granted, we have our fair share of crazy. But we certainly have no monopoly on crazy and stupid these days. Far from it based on what I've seen.
When I talk about the South, I'm not talking about Austin, Texas where the 2008 Netroots Nation was held. I consider that more of the Southwest and a unique social and cultural haven that really isn't like the rest of Texas. By the way I'm all for Keeping Austin Weird. When I'm talking about the South I'm talking about Birmingham, Alabama; Richmond, Virginia; New Orleans; Atlanta. Cities in the middle of the reddest part of America. Cities in the Heart of the Confederacy. Cities in Dixie. If you look at these cities they are themselves blue in seas of red. They also have large African American populations.
These places where we have high concentrations of people of color and abject poverty need to be reassured in this progressive movement. As much as technology is suppose to close the gap, I think that we can be honest and admit that those controlling the dialogue on places such as these are primarily white. I'm sure that exceptions will be pointed out in the thread.
But in order to bridge this gap and to bring more folks from all walks of life into the fold we have to go to the people. We cannot expect that they will come to us. A rule of political organizing. I've made some great friends from this site and others, but the majority of those are not from my part of the country. And the majority of those look like me - another issue that I have.
Last year after attending the NN09 conference in Pittsburgh I wrote
Netroots Nation 2009 lacked diversity in any number of ways you could choose to define diversity. As another Daily Kos user this morning points out, the Netroots could have been called the whiteroots convention. From my perspective as a southern blogger I was also disappointed in the shrunken numbers of Southern attendees.
So these are just some of my thoughts. I would like to hear what others think. I know this is a provoking subject and I expect that this thread could get heated. Let's remember why we are all here and that we can bridge the gap through honest forthcoming dialogue.