For reasons not particularly relevant to this diary, three of my friends moved from the liberal north to the deep red south.
“A” moved from mid-Michigan where we lived at the time. He lives in a tiny town 20 miles south of progressive Athens, Georgia. As of the census of 2000, there were 239 people, 101 households, and 65 families residing in the city. There many of the residents lament the fact that the North won the Civil War.1 He has been a close friend since my late wife and I were in graduate school.
“B” and “C” moved from Cape Cod. They now live in a rural area of southern Mississippi. “B” was one of my late wife’s best friends from grade school on. They live in an area where I suspect many residents don't actually believe the North won the Civil War.
Every time I read a news story about the Trump supporting bigots and the level of bigotry2 lamentably still present in Georgia or Mississippi I email them my best wishes letting them know I am thinking of them. This is what I emailed them today:
I saw some video snippets of Trump's northern MS rally. His words are no surprise - the reactions of the crowds are no surprise. I see them in pictures. You see them everytime you go into town. The fact that you are living among these people saddens me.
I follow the Georgia and Mississippi politics. Sometimes there is cause for optimism.
I am hoping against hope that in the governor's race, Georgia may elect Democrat Stacey Abrams, the first black woman to secure a major party gubernatorial nomination in history and the first woman of any race to do so in Georgia history. You may have seen this story about the defeated proposal to close seven out of nine polling sites in a predominantly black county in Georgia which drew national criticism over concerns about black voter suppression.
I wish my friends could move to progressive Portland and perhaps even move to the continuing care senior community where I live where you be hard pressed to find a Trump supporter.
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Footnotes
1 The town is changing for the better due in large part to the proximity of Athens, home of The University of Georgia. Progressives are moving there because of the lovely rural setting and the low home prices.
2 There are of course two souths. The urban and suburban areas and the towns where universities are located tend to be more liberal. The rural areas lean conservative. Some voted close to 70% for Trump. Those who are zealous Trump supporters as seen in rallies cheering his bigoted remarks, and as interviewed on television demonstrate a level of bigotry that has been enabled by Donald Trump.
Wednesday, Oct 3, 2018 · 4:24:47 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
Is the south more racist than the rest of the country, from The Root
Excerpt:
So Why Do People Think the South Is Racist?
There may be a number of reasons. It is possible that many people still think of the South as “country” and ascribe the stereotypes associated with rural areas to the South. But seven of the 10 blackest cities in the U.S. are in the South, and nine of the 20 biggest metropolises in America are Southern cities. More than 68 percent of people who live in the South reside in urban areas, according to 2010 U.S. census data.
It may be that the legacy of Jim Crow, segregation and slave owning may still linger in some people’s memories. It might be that the South has earned that reputation because racism is more blatant in Southern areas. There are more hate groups in the South. The Charlottesville, Va., Unite the Right rally happened in a Southern state. The White Lives Matter march happened in Tennessee. They bombed a church in Alabama.
But those blatant displays of racism sometimes obscure the fact that there are people across the United States who politely tuck their racism in their pockets every morning. They might not yell the n-word, but they discriminate in the hiring process. Maybe they’ve never burned a cross, but they don’t want black children in their schools or neighborhood. Perhaps it depends on how you prefer your racism—Southern-fried or unseasoned.
And none of this is to say that the South is a utopia of people united in brotherhood. It simply is not demonstrably more racist than anywhere else in the country. It is not more racist. It is just racist ...
Like America.
Of course, Trump proved that racism is alive and newly out in the open in the north too.