Whistle Down to Dixie
Why we can’t ignore Southern inequality.
By Steven White, Hampshire College
Monday March 26, 2007
In his much-discussed recent book Whistling Past Dixie, political scientist Thomas Schaller argues progressive political goals are impossible to achieve in the South because racism leads the region’s white population to consistently vote Republican in every major election. He cites favorable demographic trends in other parts of the country—such as the growing number of Latino voters in the West—as a reason to leave the South behind in electoral politics.
But progressives need to pay attention to the South precisely because of its biases. The South is the poorest part of the country, and anti-gay and anti-reproductive freedom sentiments can feel pervasive there. This makes it hard for progressives to win elections, but progressivism must be about more than party politics. Electoral victories aside, progressives can help organize unions, promote living wage referenda, and support organizations working against the severe discrimination LGBT communities and other stigmatized groups face in the South. Struggling for justice and fairness in the region will never be easy, but it is a goal in line with the values of the progressive movement.
“If you care about economic justice, how can you not care about the South?” asks Reverend Rebekah Jordan of Memphis. Birmingham gay rights activist Howard Bayless told Campus Progress, “We have to be active in places like Alabama. Until the needle moves here, you’re not going to have marriage [equality] everywhere.”
When it comes to establishing a real progressive agenda for America, whistling past Dixie just isn’t a viable option. In 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt declared the South to be the nation’s number one economic problem. This is still true today. The South has the nation’s highest poverty rate, at 14 percent. Large chunks of the region are rural, where impoverished residents can be isolated from things like advanced medical treatment facilities and well-funded public libraries. Not helping matters is the region’s anti-union “right to work” laws and the accompanying lowest unionization rate in the country.
United for a Fair Economy (UFE) Executive Director Meizhu Lui told Campus Progress that UFE’s research on U.S. economic inequality is clear: the South stands out as the region with the most egregious inequality, which is also a civil rights concern. Half of all African Americans call the South their home. “There’s something going on here that we really need to understand better,” Lui said.
She and others at UFE started exploring the South in 2006, often traveling through the region and meeting with local organizations. This led Lui to an NAACP convention in Louisiana where she was invited to lead a workshop. There, she started to better understand the central role played by religion and churches in progressive movements in the South. “Rather than being at a civil rights gathering, it felt like I had fallen smack dab into the middle of a revival tent,” she said. “Every single speaker was a minister and biblical stories abounded in everybody’s speeches. Even though the topic was justice, it was all about the Bible.”
Indeed, religion plays a role in southern culture unlike anywhere else in the country. But progressives should be open to possibilities of working with Southern communities of faith. The Midsouth Interfaith Network for Economic Justice’s stated mission is to “partner with people of faith in order to improve wages, benefits, and working conditions.” They recently finished a successful living wage campaign for city employees and are trying to pass similar legislation in other counties. Jordan, the organization’s executive director, said local government officials are often caught in a mindset that because conditions are already worst in the South, residents must settle for less. Working against such defeatism is difficult, but Jordan said she is hopeful when she sees low wage workers standing up for injustice at the risk of losing their jobs because they want to better conditions for themselves and others.
The struggle for gay rights in the region is just as difficult. Last November, South Carolina residents voted to add an amendment to their constitution banning gay marriage by a 56 point margin. Not to be outdone, Tennesseans did the same by a staggering 62 points. In 2004, legislators in Rhea County, Tenn.—where the infamous “Scopes Monkey Trial” took place—tried to pass legislation actually banning gay people from living in the county. This continued for a few days until the county’s board, hounded by negative media attention, dropped the measure.
According to gay rights activist Bayless, board chair of Equality Alabama, this kind of homophobia is responsible for many gay southerners being closeted. Gay rights organizing in the state is a relatively recent phenomenon. Although Bayless said progress toward gay marriage and civil unions in New England is important, progressives cannot forget those places where progress is slower. “It’s going to take a progressive movement, state by state, changing attitudes and supporting incremental changes,” he said.
Bayless said he sees signs of hope, though. Alabama residents recently elected their first openly gay legislator, Patricia Todd of District 54, to the Alabama House of Representatives. Equality Alabama and other progressive organizations are currently working to amend the state’s hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Bayless said he is also beginning to hear from more local residents who support his work.
Unfortunately, the uphill battle required for progressive organizing in the South often turns people off. “Choosing this route is difficult,” UFE’s Lui said. “Progress is slower, which makes it hard to find folks that will invest resources in the South. They want to see immediate results.”
So what can progressives who think they are up to the task do to make change in the South? Jordan, the Memphis reverend, said respecting local grassroots organizations is essential. “I think it’s important that Southerners really take the lead in fashioning a lot of these solutions,” she stated. Lui agreed. Northerners “need to put aside their notions of superiority,” she said. “People have to give themselves the time to listen and learn before they figure out what they can do to help.” Progressives “need to recognize some of the leading work for equality has come out of the South.”
Progress in the South will only occur if people around the country start paying real attention to the region. Even then, it will be slow, difficult, and frustrating. But this is no excuse for national progressives to ignore it. The extent of racism, poverty, homophobia, sexism, and other social ills is so great in the South that many people assume it is impossible to change. But as Jordan told Campus Progress, “These kinds of attitudes can actually be one of the biggest hindrances to changing things because they keep people from taking action.” So despite all the talk of leaving the South behind, progressives need to be careful not to fall into this trap. After all, if progressives really care about justice, how can they not care about a region in which it is so often denied?
--------
Comments
|
!
Good Grief. I love this
“political scientist Thomas Schaller argues progressive political goals are impossible to achieve in the South because racism leads the region’s white population to consistently vote Republican in every major election. He cites favorable demographic trends in other parts of the country—such as the growing number of Hispanic voters in the West—as a reason to leave the South behind in electoral politics.”
Wow, well I guess all the hispanics are going to vote dem. I am white seep south Republican that has been involved in politcs since I was 16. What about the continued success of the Dem party down here post civil rights era. They believe it or not win elections. I am not sure what he emans by “major elections” May I suggest races for State reps, Governors, mayors , etc cannot be ignored. The reason that Republicans have rising voter ID is that the DEM national party has gone off the rails on issues very unrelated to race.
Ignorance of the South again
JH
— Jh - Mar 26, 02:57 PM - #Louisiana
This is worthless sterotypical tripe that holds the south back more than your half-bake poorly analyzed assumptions. What makes people vote democratic??? Enlightenment??? I’m from New Orleans. Remember Katrina? Or have you flused it from your conciousness. What you saw at the dome and the convention center was the result of 35 years of democatic control, more particularly black control, of this city. Now are you proud of your democratic principles? The democratics have held power in the country only through enslaving their constituents…keeping them down. Fostering hollow promises of a better life have been the thrust of your party. “Progressives??? No. It’s BOLSHEVISM! It hasn’t worked anywhere on this earth yet, and it won’t work here. Clean up you own yard,before you foist your guilt on people who truly belive in what this country stands for. We aren’t as dumb as you think we are, which is our greatest asset, if not weapon.
— conor larkin - Mar 26, 03:18 PM - #aw shucks us poor ol’ dumb southerners jus’ donts has no more sense than God gave a goose – albeit He did give us a generous portion of morality and decency and the ability to discer truth from error, eg. homosexuality=abombination to God, and abortion=baby murder(how many of you people who support this view would have wanted it done to yourselves?)At least most of us are able to clearly diascern right from wrong.
— John Wallace - Mar 26, 03:38 PM - #I make a prediction. John Breaux(white Democrat) is going to run against Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal for Governor of Louisiana.
If Jindal wins people will argue that is because Southerners are racist for the reason above. If Breaux wins it will because white SOutherners will not vote for a “brown” man
It is so sad it is funny
— Jh - Mar 26, 03:56 PM - #jh
Louisiana
What else would I expect from website run by a left-wing thinktank.
“Southern Republicans are all a bunch of racists.” For a group that is supposed to be open-minded, you sure are pretty damn close-minded about our region. The reason the South votes majority Republican in national elections is because even many of our registered Democrats don’t want San Francisco type politics influencing the whole country.
— Nick - Mar 26, 04:07 PM - #That’s why the Republican Mayor of New Orleans, Republican House and Senate, and Republican Governor chose not to bus the blacks out of New Orleans when Katrina was coming. Oh, wait. Nevermind, I forgot. It was the Democrats who were fine with letting the blacks swim.
— Bubba Forteethe - Mar 26, 04:21 PM - #Uh, the mayor of New Orleans has never been a Republican…..Also, both the La House and Senate are Democrat controlled.
— don jones - Mar 26, 04:44 PM - #What a load of bs. Guess john, horsehead, kerry is a progressive what with his warning that we ignernts will end up in Iraq.
Progressive=racist, condescending bastards…
— James - Mar 26, 05:01 PM - ## 7, you failed to see the irony in # 6’s comment.
And Mr. White, your biased “facts” (and I use facts in the loosest meaning of the word..) are the laughing stock of southern messageboards. Being from Louisiana, I can guarnatee you that the only party that has royally screwed Louisiana over would be your beloved Democratic party.
But go on, keep being idealistic. We will continue to fight for morals and what is right so that your children might grow up in a world that isn’t fully corrupt.
— Stoo ped Southerner - Mar 26, 05:17 PM - #Sweet, looks like someone has become the typical yankee. Lets blame the South for everything wrong with race or discrimination. I guess nobody had a problem seeing over a thousand people die because of a hurricane. There are class problems not race problems and until you geniuses figure out that the poor seemingly don’t want to work and want everything to be given to them and would prefer to live on welfare than handle there own welfare you will be stuck in the same South blaming mindset. How about parental accountabilty no free lunches. I wonder if 1000 people dieing from starvation because they were to lazy to get a job would change peoples minds cause I know a hurricane can’t.
— you got it - Mar 26, 05:26 PM - #“I wonder if 1000 people dieing from starvation because they were to lazy to get a job would change peoples minds cause I know a hurricane can’t.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
I am the sales manger for an employment agency in Louisiana, and have to deal with poor people every day. They do not want to work. Period. If they did, I would be out of a job, because I would have no one to send to these companies. As it is, it takes usually 6-8 people to fill 1 position. Not because the job is horrible, etc, but because no one will even show up, let alone work.
— Mike - Mar 26, 06:28 PM - #Sounds like the book is laced with the author’s racism. Please don’t claim to know how we think, feel, vote, and PLEASE do not come to the south and try to inflict your morals, values and principles on us.
— No racism here - Mar 26, 06:35 PM - #The south’s nazi-like hate of black people is the reason for all the strain on race in the world. In the north, where people aren’t as inbread and wear shoes, blacks and whites walk around holding hands singing Kumbaya. e.g. Detroit is a northern city which is 82% black. There are only two racists in Detroit and they are white Christians who wondered into the city on accident from a southern state looking for gays to persecute. Detroit has the highest annual income per year, every resident is a member of a union, there is NO crime, the poverty rate in 0.0001%(the 2 white racist have managed to keep 2 African Americans in poverty), the education system is the best in the world, the econcomy is roaring producint half of the US GNP per year, everyone votes progressive i.e. Democrat, and most importantly everyone is gay, there are no Christians and everyone has at least one abortion a week. Detroit IS the shining example of the north but there are many other cities in the which display perfection. Boston, Cincy, New York, Philadelphia, and Camden NJ combined had 1 murder last year and 0% poverty. The racial harmony in these cities is orgasmic except when a few southern tourists migrate through each year to see the liberty bell or statue of liberty. Swithing to states the golden boy of the NE is Vermont. With an African American population of 85% and
— Steven White is a genius - Mar 26, 06:56 PM - #-85% racism we have to celebrate the diversity. Don’g give up hope. We can turn the south into the next great Detroit.
You can’t turn my community into a Detroit. We only have 200 residents in my community.
— Hmmmmm - Mar 26, 07:30 PM - #Progressive actually means marxist. The leftwing will never admit to this and as a former leftwinger I can promise you it is true. Funny that there is absolutely nothing progressive about marxism.
What this article really says is getting the south to accept marxism is too hard so let’s call them racists to break their will.
— Scott - Mar 26, 07:54 PM - #This article is typical of college students and their professors whose liberal mindset leaves them blind to reality. The south is as diverse as the north. My children live on the upper west side of Manhattan where they have their own brand of racism. Such silliness of thought accomplishes nothing. The article is pablum.
— Yo Ma - Mar 26, 07:56 PM - #Any perceived ‘elitism’ from Northerners is self-imposed, as the freshman that wrote this article, has demonstrated so clearly.
— no2liberals - Mar 26, 08:19 PM - #The author of this diatribe needs to expand his reading list, and gain some life experience.
http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8729871
“New Orleans, for all its joie de vivre, is one of the worst-run cities in America. For the South as a whole, the picture is much brighter. Indeed, the question is no longer “will the South rise again?” but “will it one day overtake the north?” Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, does not hesitate before answering “yes”. The South, he says, has low taxes, weak unions, business-friendly state governments, sunshine and a quality of life that will increasingly attract people who can work anywhere with a broadband connection.
This special report will describe how success has changed the South—economically, politically and culturally. It will offer food for thought about America’s most distinctive region (and some brief thoughts on its food). It will examine the changing (but undiminished) role of religion in southern society. But it will start with the most explosive subject: the partially cleared minefield of race.”
One thing you failed to mention, is the deep rooted distrust and hatred for communists. This also is a reminder why gorebal warming needs to be accelerated, so the notherners will have a more hospitable climate, and stop moving down here.
And I always thought I was a Republican because of my belief that society can achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people when free market economies are free from excessive taxation and government regulation.
Thank God this professor whose salary I’m sure I help to pay taught me better: it’s because I’m a racist!
Because I believe in the man, his abilities, and vision for our state and not at all to prove the point that I’m not what this study paints me to be:
Jindal for Louisiana!
— SouthernWhiteMale - Mar 26, 08:43 PM - #Most “criticisms” here are directed at the first paragraph’s assumption about “racist whites,” which one can easily see is the argument of Thomas Schaller, not the author of this article. This article is a response to Schaller, arguing that whether he’s right or he’s wrong, the South is still important and progressives need to pay attention to the region.
Also, this is a progressive website, so the article is written with that in mind (i.e. it assumes its audience already holds progressive political views, and it is making an argument starting from that assumption).
If anyone has any serious criticisms that are more than mere libel, I’d actually be more than happy to discuss them with you.
— Steven White - Mar 26, 09:22 PM - #This is a poor article. One that is also, unfortunately, very poorly written.
— wordo - Mar 26, 10:05 PM - #“If anyone has any serious criticisms that are more than mere libel, I’d actually be more than happy to discuss them with you.”
First of all, if you write a libel article expect a libel response. Now to the debate. It is obvious that as a progressive you enjoy stereotyping the South and Rebulicans as racist, homophobes, sexist, and full of injustice. This offends me deeply! From where do you draw these conclusions? Media? Personal experience? Have you lived in the South for an extended period of time? Do we have a racist past? YES! Are we proud of it? NO! We are trying to move on. I’m a white male southern Republican and I want every black person, homosexual, woman in the South to have a good paying job, a nice house, a great education, and live the American dream. If that’s racist/sexist/homophobic then I guess I’m a southern Christian white male racist/sexist/homophobe. The thing is I’m not a racist/sexist/homophobe and I know very few people in the South who are any of those.
A true debate would include tough questions. Contrary to your article, the South was once ruled by progressives(Democrats). Many social programs were started for those in poverty with the goal of helping them out of poverty. Some of the programs were good but most are not. Instead of helping those in poverty, it created a culture dependent on the programs. Instead of flourishing and weaning the impoverished people off of the program those in power concentrated the poor into projects where desperation bred addiction, crime, and immorality. These projects became ghettos where morale plumits and hope is lost. All suffer except those, politicians/community activists, in power who claim to want to help these people with millions of dollars in grants and more social programs but the only ones they do help are their cronnies and themselves. Their leaders rule with fear and excuses. Most of the people in these communities are good people and want a good life but when they start questioning why things are so bad then their leaders have a conference and blame others with fervent inflammatory remarks. Focus is immediatley off of them and they are pleased and continue becoming rich while those they represent rot. This is what I know in my home state of Louisiana. We’ve been in this cycle of poverty for over 30 years, but don’t feel bad because most states in the South are improving. South Carolina, Tennessee,Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, again contrary to your article, have the strongest economies in the country and those in poverty are breaking free from the projects, ghettos, and corrupt leaders not with programs and grants but with good paying jobs and opportunity. You see racism ends when people have good jobs and hope because they could give a rat’s ass if someone hates them due to their skin color if they have a good job, a loving family, and most of all hope for the future.
So what is the tough question for debate? Well it’s actually pretty easy to answer because I just want your honest opinion. What would you do to help end racism, sexism, and bigotry? Please don’t answer “Make the South more progressive.” because it would sound stupid.
If you really want the answer then do something most college kids don’t do and actually research what works and what the situation is here. Come spend a month or two in the charity hospital I work in and see how great your life can be when the government “takes care of you”. You might be surprised or you may come to the same conclusion. Whatever you do please don’t be a private liberal arts Northeast elitest kool-aid drinker. Lord knows all we need is one more sheep in this country.
— Debate! Debate! Debate! - Mar 26, 10:27 PM - #“From where do you draw these conclusions? Media? Personal experience? Have you lived in the South for an extended period of time?”
Yes, I grew up in Tennessee. I lived there for almost two decades.
“If that’s racist/sexist/homophobic then I guess I’m a southern Christian white male racist/sexist/homophobe. The thing is I’m not a racist/sexist/homophobe and I know very few people in the South who are any of those.”
I never called you or any particular person any of these things. I said racism, sexism, and homophobia are all problems in the South like they are everywhere else in the country (and I’d argue more so in the South), but I didn’t blame it on any individual.
“Contrary to your article, the South was once ruled by progressives(Democrats)”
The South was once ruled by Democrats obviously, but the segregationist Democratic party of old was clearly not progressive in the contemporary sense of the term.
“South Carolina, Tennessee,Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, again contrary to your article, have the strongest economies in the country.”
Strong economy is a matter of definition. The fact remains that the South still has the highest percentage of people living below the poverty rate. Some people are doing well, but a lot of people aren’t. Businesses like the South because it doesn’t have as many unions, etc., but I’m more concerned with the economy’s effect on people who aren’t getting by quite as well.
“What would you do to help end racism, sexism, and bigotry? Please don’t answer “Make the South more progressive.” because it would sound stupid.”
I don’t have the answers to these problems and would never claim to. I think allowing workers to more easily form a union would help. I think increases in the minimum wage would help. I think working to provide healthcare to people who don’t have it would help. I think working to add sexual orientation to hate crimes laws helps and someday in the future even working towards gay marriage. I understand you probably won’t like a lot of these solutions, but it’s what I and a lot of other people (some in the South, others outside it) think. The best way to do this is for people outside the region to open their minds and talk to progressive organizations in the South and let them take the lead.
“Whatever you do please don’t be a private liberal arts Northeast elitest kool-aid drinker.”
— Steven White - Mar 27, 12:06 AM - #I’ll try.
I am a black republican from La. I was a Democrat for many years. I left La. because of work. I moved to San Francisco, Ca. That’s when I realized I was not a liberal, but strictly conservative. I guess the libs will call me a uncle Tom, but there are more and more blacks from the south that are beginning to leave Masser Democrat’s plantation. Kunta Kinda and I left in ’96 and have not looked back.
— Raymond Johnson - Mar 27, 12:54 AM - #Thanks Raymond. Wow some people on here would call you a hypocrite. The funny thing goign on here is that it is obvious that money is not being spent properly around the south. It is funny that die hard liberals do not want any drilling for oil in alaska or colorado but sure we will drill in the gulf of mexico and ruin the coast because it is the South. Where is Pelosi on that one. Another thing living at the end of the Mississippi River means we get all the waste from up North literally. I wonder if there was something in the commerce clause that I could argue to tax these states. Interesting enough is I am not a progressive and yet I want to help my state of Louisiana out but I don’t here any liberals jumping on this bandwagon. You know why, because it is the South. So before you decide to try to change us how about you help us and fight for us. At least we had the guts to defend our values and break away from the Union and it wasn’t just for slavery as the history books would have you believe. It was called states rights. So if you want a progressive south how about giving us all money for all the black gold that runs through my state and we’ll make it better ourselves. As far as who this article is written for, it really doesn’t matter because it is propaganda. While you are at it buy into the global warming and find out that just 30 years ago the same people were saying it was global cooling and we were in a miny ice age.
— you got it - Mar 27, 01:21 AM - #Wow Stephen, looks like word about your article got out to a conservative Louisiana message board. Oy.
As a fellow Southerner (and fellow Hampshire student—way to represent on CP!) born and raised in North Carolina, I can only say that from my personal experience, the inherent racism, classism, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia that are readily accepted aspects of Southern culture made me never want to live in the South again. It’s overwhelming to be in a community you feel you are a part of—from the day you were born to the day you left for college—and at the same time feel that you have no place in it. An activist in North Carolina state politics since I was old enough to carry a banner, I have done everything from testifying in front of a state congressional committee to registering disenfranchised voters door-to-door in some of Raleigh’s poorest neighborhoods, and I almost always leave in disbelief that this is the society I come from.
So I guess I don’t know what to tell you. I agree, I do think attitudes can change, there is progress being made in the American South, and I’m proud to have taken part in it. On the other hand, I can’t see myself ever returning. Being around that much hate—and it’s not always ignorance, it’s not stupidity, it’s calculated, ideological hate—is exhausting.
God bless those who go to the South and carry on the good work there. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be there to do it myself.
— Shaz - Mar 27, 01:39 AM - #Most “criticisms” here are directed at the first paragraph’s assumption about “racist whites,” which one can easily see is the argument of Thomas Schaller, not the author of this article. This article is a response to Schaller, arguing that whether he’s right or he’s wrong, the South is still important and progressives need to pay attention to the region.”
Look man, notwithstanding a lot of “criticism” in your article that cannot by any stretch be written off as mere assumptions of Schaller, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt because I don’t think you dreamed that anyone South of Boston would actually read this. You’re probably a well-intentioned decent guy.
You are a liberal, which in and of itself is fine. Reasonable people can have political disagreements. The problems in the article that you cite, I believe, are products of 50 years of liberalism. You on the other hand, think that fundamentalist Republicans are the cause. May the best side win. This doesn’t matter as to the point I make here though.
Take this as some friendly advice from the opposition: you messed up in 2 big ways with this article that, to the extent that your mistakes reflect the problems of the American left in general, explain why you’re destined for more defeat.
First, you write off the people of an entire region that for a whopping 2 national election cycles have not voted for your candidates, hurling a string of insults at them. You seem to imply that the more enlightened constituency of the, in the words of another poster, private liberal arts Northeast elitist kool-aid drinkers, needs to somehow “save” the South (and Southerners) from itself. This makes you look like an asshole and suggests that the people of the South are not capable of comprehending your ideas. Politically, this is stupid. If you want to change the politics of the South, you’re not going to get there with outsiders. You’re going to get there with the people that live in the South. That brings me to my next point.
Have faith in the power of your ideals. If you truly believe that labor unions, “hate crime” legislation, abortion on demand laws, etc. lead to the better life for the greatest number of people, then go explain to people why. Let the arguments convince them in the same way they conviced you. It’s the ideas themselves that win people over, not benchmarks like a “first openly gay legislator” or a organizing a group of carpetbaggers to pressure some governor somewhere in the South on minimum wage. If what you believe is right, the ideas will have a tranformative power that no token achievement can produce.
Again, I disagree with your politics and don’t want your ideas to take root in the South. But, as friendly advice, you/Schaller/other libs will never win your arguments so long as you take the unfortunate approach you adopted here of thinking that YOU the enlightened individual rather than the power of YOUR IDEAS can change things.
Making this mistake only makes you come of as looking like an elitist Kool-Aid drinker, and a weak one at that, something everyone resents, but especially Southerners.
— SouthernWhiteMale - Mar 27, 01:54 AM - #Yes, we’re racists. I’m one of the worst of the worst. That’s why I wore a Tampa Bay Bucs jersey as a kid pretending to be Doug Williams as a child and pictures of Hank Aaron and Michael Jordan on my wall. Here’s a novel idea. Perhaps our “racism” is wrapped up in the knowlede that the “separate” part of “separate but equal” is still in effect, largely thanks to fifty years of vote harvesting on the part of the democratic party. Stop using the laws to segregate people and this, too shall pass. Until then, we are all just members of groups and not individuals and will be herded accordingly.
New Orleans
— Racist Redneck - Mar 27, 05:43 AM - #Progressive?
— no2liberals - Mar 27, 06:35 AM - #Hardly. Communism is one tired, wore out ideology, to the detriment of hundreds of millions.
Buzz words like racism and homophobic(I fear no man) don’t stifle debate like they once did.
You need to get your mind right…go read all of Ayn Rand’s works, for a start.
In the state of Louisiana we have had free people of color since day 1. We in the South have yet to finish reconstruction from The War for Southern Independence. Dixie Democrats have done nothing to help rebuild economic growth in the South. That is why the South votes Republican. Also it is our boys that are the majority in the military and the Democrats do not support them in anyway. That is why the South votes Republican.
— Redneck Girl - Mar 27, 06:46 AM - #Republicans were responsible for the equal rights movement in the South. NOT DEMOCRATS! The South was run by democrats up until the late 70’s and early 80’s. From this point on the South began to vote Republican in National elections while many states governors remained democrats. The welfare based state that has been established in the South is thanks to Democrats, not Republicans. When someone has an agenda it is said that rather than backing up their points with facts they put it in the form of a study to try and make people believe that what they say is fact.
— Backwoods Boy - Mar 27, 08:24 AM - #Why did the liberals/Democrats recently stop using liberal and Democrat to identify themselves, but adopted a new term ‘progressive’? I assert that it is because of the negative stigma that they earned due to a dead end philosophy that the populace was rapidly discovering that liberals really only serve themselves.
Why is it that when someone does not embrace homosexuality the liberals dub them as ‘homophobic’?
Just because I view homosexuality as a sin does not mean that I hate the sinner.
Why is it that people who support the murder of a human being [it’s not a dog or a tomato – it’s simply a very young human] hide that activity behind the word ‘choice’?
— Bubba in TX - Mar 27, 08:24 AM - #Try being a realist….for a change. Things are what they are.
I agree that progressive political and social movement can happen in the south. I also believe that it would not only behoove the region but progressive activist to work with southerners to help remedy all of the social injustice so rampant there. After all, if we believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, we must dedicate our efforts on helping this ailing part of the country so that ever region may thrive.
Don’t get discouraged Steven, all progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. You did a good job presenting an argument for an already progressive-minded audience, unfortunately that did not seem to be the majority of your readership.
— mireille - Mar 27, 03:58 PM - #Some of these idiots are so dumb as to make me ashamed to be a southerner. Hell, one of these morons spelled “inbred” wrong.
Here’s a news flash for my southern brothers and sisters—I went to a public high school in Georgia for K-12, and I am perfectly capable of spelling, forming complete sentences, and recognizing the failings of our region.
Look, it’s not like Vermont put disclaimers in their biology textbooks telling students not to believe their biology textbooks. It takes a special kind of backwards-ass thinking to do something like that.
And, as a special note to Backwards, er, Backwoods Boy—as Newt Gingrich himself has said, “it was the liberal wing of the Democratic Party that ended segregation.” It takes a special kind of stupid to think that a Democratic majority in both Houses and Johnson in the White House means that Republicans, not Democrats, brought an end to Jim Crow. You might want to look up the relationship between the Kennedys and Dr. King to see some of the history that you’ve completely ignored in order to cling to your dogmatic and fallacious beliefs about your party. (Are you trying to imply that black southerners, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic, are simply being played and are too stupid to know they should be backing Republicans? Is that your underlying implication? I ask because someone above from your end of the spectrum attempted to blame blacks for Katrina, and it sounds like you two are on a stereotype-confirming crusade)
— JR - Mar 28, 03:28 AM - ##27, you get an F.
“Communism is one tired, wore out ideology, to the detriment of hundreds of millions.
Buzz words like racism and homophobic(I fear no man) don’t stifle debate like they once did.”
How about buzzwords like “communism,” you hackneyed half-wit?
— JR - Mar 28, 03:30 AM - #Ree-pent, vile Yankee!! Jezus is gonna fry yer sorry butt one fine day…and that’s fer ding-dang sure!
— Christian Wright - Mar 28, 05:06 AM - #The notion that racism belongs to one region or political party more than another is a fallacy being perpetuated by both the author and his numerous reactionary commentors. Having lived in the South and traveled across America, I can make an educated guess that a gay person or a black person in the South would be just as alienated and be just as subject to ignorance if he or she lived in small town/rural Iowa, or North Dakota, or South Dakota, or Nebraska, or Utah, etc., etc.
If you’re thinking about racism in such simple terms, then look at the fact that Ohio and Idaho have more of a KKK presence than any state in the South. And if you’re concerned about the strength of the pro-life cause in the South, you might want to refocus on Kansas, where I once saw a crucifix with a picture of a fetus at the crux, accompanied by a sign that said “American Holocaust: 65 million dead.”
No joke.
As for all you posters who actually believe shit like that, and blame black people for Katrina….you’re not really worth my time.
— Michael - Mar 28, 02:50 PM - #Michael:
Racism doesn’t belong to any party or region. It’s a national concern. All my article tries to do is argue that the South is an important place for progressive organizing, despite a lot of people who argue it’s a lost cause. I don’t think the South is a lost cause any more than any other region.
Actually, if you reread the article, I think you’ll note that very little in the article focuses specifically on race. It’s mainly about economic inequality (which certainly is related to race, but not always) and gay rights. The line most people seem to take issue with is the description of the white southern electorate in the first paragraph, but that is actually the argument of Thomas Schaller, not the point of this article. All this article tries to do is argue that the South is important for progressives.
— Steven White - Mar 28, 03:10 PM - #Hey Steven,
Sorry- I didn’t articulate myself well. I meant that it is a belief of mine that nowhere in the United States (geographically speaking) is more or less racist than anywhere else, and I feel like often the South gets treated as “more racist” than elsewhere because people think about race in a very simple, white-hooded kind of way, and the South is the clearest reference point for that. Call me a relativist-godless-progressive, but that’s my deal.
I know that this is all mostly irrelevant to your main argument, which, as you said, is about economic inequality. Your cause there is one I sympathize with…In a weird way, I guess I wish people would recognize that inequality by thinking of the South as poor first, instead of racist/homophobic (the whole country’s screwed as far as that stuff). Not that you do this, at all. But many people do.
— Michael - Mar 28, 03:28 PM - #I’ll preface everything I’m about to say with this: I work HARD in a few progressive organizations for the advancement of economic populism, open society and meaningful democratic reforms. Don’t you dare question my progressive cred. Now that that’s out of the way I’ll say this: unnuanced progressive activism, driven by progressive activists as they are today, is doomed to failure in the South. And not because of any intrinsic property of Southernness, but because establishment-liberal groupthink has a powerful contempt for Southern culture and Southern people that will thwart all its efforts. Bottom line: the Liberal establishment reluctantly wants Southern votes for mathematical reasons, Southern hearts it could care less about. Why is the RNC stymied in Massachusetts and the Bay area? Because of the gross caricatures of those locals that they puke up for sport on a daily basis among themselves. Why is the DNC stymied in the South? Guess. The ease with which liberals make sweeping proclamations about The Southern Character, despite the liberal priority on Cultural Sensitivity should be an indicator that the problem is ultimately with liberal culture, not Southern culture. To the urbancentric, Golden-Crescent-based power-brokers in the Democratic machinery (and their groupies) the “Southerner” is a cultural “subject” like the “Savage” of the colonial era: lusty, ignorant and merciless. All you “Progressives” should really read “Redneck Manifesto” before you so generously enlighten the world with any more of your very important impressions about the Southern “other”.
— Andrew from Richmond - Mar 30, 08:29 PM - #It is difficult to find words to describe the incredible arrogance in Steven White or Thomas Schaller’s comments. The assumption that ignorance holds sway in the south while the north is a bastion of intellect and common sense is nauseating. If people like this could only know how laughable their opinions are to “real folks” they would be amazed.
— LTB - Mar 30, 09:32 PM - #LTB: I never, ever assume that “ignorance holds sway in the south while the north is a bastion of intellect and common sense.” If you look at the article, you’ll see that 2 out of 3 people quoted are themselves southerners working within the region, and the only non-southerner goes to great lengths to criticize northern elitism. If you can point out examples of what you see as “arrogance” in this article, I’ll response more specifically.
— Steven White - Mar 30, 10:02 PM - #Andrew from Richmond: I don’t care about the Democratic Party, I care about people. As a southerner by birth, I have a special sentiment towards the South. Since it’s the case that economic inequality is greatest in the South and stigmatized groups like gay people face such strong resistance there on legal issues, I think it’s important than progressives everywhere pay attention to the region.
I mainly agree with you that “establishment-liberal groupthink has a powerful contempt for Southern culture and Southern people that will thwart all its efforts.” This isn’t that. This is an argument against that.
“...before you so generously enlighten the world with any more of your very important impressions about the Southern “other”.”
As someone who spent almost two decades growing up in the South, I frankly don’t see how I can possibly be aiming my critiques towards the southern “other.” I think the problem is northern progressives, because they do often engage in a lot of these things you criticize. Frankly I think you and I are on the same side in much of this, and I regret it if anything in the article itself leads you to feel otherwise.
Progressives should work as hard as they possibly can to understand southerners on their own terms before they do anything else.
— Steven White - Mar 30, 10:10 PM - ##8 can go fuck himself! I’m a proud progressive, who’s movin’ to Texas this summer, and I’m no “racist, condecending bastard”!, as #8 seems to think!
— P. Bolton - Mar 30, 11:14 PM - #Extremists continue to show why they can’t get in an intellectual conversation as they engage in name-calling, insults, rhetoric and lies.
— Sharon Dupree - Mar 31, 03:43 PM - #You can continue to play ignorant if you want, but, the EVIDENCE shows that if you’re willing to engage in dishonesty, stealing, worshiping other human beings and different forms of bigotry, while wrapping immorality around a cult-like “religious” faith, you will believe anything.
Andrew from Richmond: That’s not why DNC efforts are doomed to failure in the near future in the South. The Party can’t do squat in most southern states because the state parties and progressive movements are fractured along rural/urban lines, with Democratic elites so far largely unable to unify both blocs. And, it bears mentioning, that urban/rural party divide does tend, in no small part, to break along racial lines. At least, that’s how all the deep south states are at present—I can’t speak to Virginia as well as you, but GA, FL, AL, TN, SC and NC are all facing this problem to varying degrees.
— JR - Apr 2, 02:56 AM - #I have lived in the south most of my adult life. I was born and raised in rural Iowa, just north of the Missouri border. My grandparents and now my mother live in Forsythe, just around the corner from Branson, Missouri. The difference between the urban northeast (where I went to grad school) and the south is unmistakable, and while the love of war and the ideology of bigotry against black people, gay people, and “communists” (meaning anyone who doesn’t vote for race-baiting, gay-baiting politicians) may be exacerbated by poverty, poverty is not at the root of these problems. Before the civil war, the south’s economy, built on slavery, was the strongest in the nation., and the south’s ideology of racism was built during that period. This ideology will continue to prevail so long as southerners like my grandparents and my neighbors continue to deny or minimize its power, and to respond in irrational anger when it is so much as mentioned.
— Alan Richard - Apr 2, 09:44 AM - #So sophomoric on every level it is incomprehensible that someone in college could have produced it. I live in Minnesota and do a great deal of work throughout the South.With perhaps the lone exception of New Orleans, hardly any of the stereotypes perpetuated by this amateur sociologist, who likely has never traveled beyond the borders of New England. This may be a “progressive” site, but PLEASE leaven your writing with at least a facsimile of truth. Were I to grade this effort it might receive a D- at best.
— Zackery Fischer - Apr 2, 10:56 PM - #Zackery Fischer:
Can you specifically name any of the “stereotypes” perpetuated in the article? The author is from Tennessee and social activists from Memphis and Birmingham are quoted prominently. Your vague critique that doesn’t give any examples hardly merits anthing above a D- itself. But if you want to offer some more specific criticisms, I would love the chance to seriously respond to them.
— Steven White - Apr 2, 11:23 PM - #Mr. White, I have to ask, is your complacent attitude in these matters based on anything rather than websites and articles?? O, I left out your vapid cookie-cutter classmates opinions. I know your trying to be an anti-conformist, gee i can’t remeber the last time i heard some cookie-cutter norther liberal arts follower post a little article condeming the south and the republicans for the nations problems. But have you ever even lived in the South?
Take it from somebody who’s actually lived on both sides of the fence (i grew up in the south and now live in the north) Not all of the south is racist or anti-gay. In fact, back in North Carolina 30% of my school was black studens, 20% other minorities and 50% white. I even had several black teachers, a black principle, two gay teachers, and one lezbian teacher. Not to mention the numerous gay-straight alliance clubs, and anti discrimination clubs. Much to my surprise, after hearing so much about how open the north is, I moved here and found quite the opposite. I think in my college i’ve maaaaaybe seen 3 or 4 black students on campus and surprise surpirse, no black teachers and no gay teachers. I even attended a church (yes in the south) that welcomed everyone, no matter your race, sexual identity/orientation.
I don’t think Southerns are the iggnorant ones.
Then again, maybe you are following the right leader…Afterall we all know that it was in fact John Kerry who ‘invented the internet’....
— Heather Mozo - Apr 6, 05:32 PM - #Heather, I don’t know what to tell you except to ask you to actually read the article. I’m not condemning the South. I’m from the South (yes, I lived there for 18 years). The North has its problems as well, but nothern progressives are already concerned about those. My sole point in this article is to argue they should also be concerned about the southern region as well, instead of writing it off like so many do.
I never call southerners ignorant, and this is something I have repeated numerous times.
— Steven White - Apr 6, 07:14 PM - #I think Steven is making all the right points here, even though I remain convinced that the South will come around last. His point is about working hardest where the task is largest—and that is the south, when it comes to progressivism. And, sorry folks, this is not really a matter of opinion. And it’s not just the racialized politics or the high rates of evangelism or the low rates of unionization—all of which make the south harder to win than other regions, all else equal. History shows the south has always been the least progressive region, fighting against almost every amendment or progressive reform, from the civil war amendments to extending suffrage to women to integrating the military to ending child labor to the civil rights movement reforms to gay marriage. Are there conservatives and racists outside the South? sure. is every southerner a racist, anti-union, misogynist? Of course not. that’s not the argument steven is making, and it damn sure ain’t the argument i make in WPD.
but politics is economics, and the strategic issues is about winning where the wins are easiest to achieve. and that’s not the south.
— Tom Schaller - Apr 7, 11:13 AM - #*one retraction from a previous statement made~ it was Al Gore, and not Jonh Kerry who made the infamous quote…
I realize that you’re not implying ALL southerns are racists or radical bible thumpers who are against anything that seems unatrual….BUT, it’s very hard after moving here and seeing the extreme misconceptions about the south, every day, to not take it personally, or get deffensive. You can say all day long, ‘i’m not saying ALL southerns are this and that’ but come on, we both know that the implication is that MOST are. I just think that a lot of northern college kids read articles like this one and hear what their parents/friends/teachers say about the south…(o and Hollywood is certainly NOT doing us any favors) and they get this picture in their head of a hillbilly infested region, where everybody says ‘y’all’ and lezbians,bi’s,gays, aftrican americans are all outcasts. Definatly not true at all.
— Heather Mozo - Apr 8, 09:03 PM - #Heather, while I sympathize with what you’re saying about anti-South stereotypes (I’m a southerner myself, and get offended as well when talking to some of my now-northern peers), I think you are just factually incorrect to assert there aren’t strong anti-gay sentiments in parts of the South, as well as a continuing legacy of racism, that is at least different in a region that has always had a different character than the rest of the country.
And in some ways, yes, these problems are worse. For example, there are no gay marriage/civil partnernship laws in the South at all, and legal protection is often a minimum. While there are problems with this in the North as well, you really can’t deny northern politicians have been more pro-gay rights than southern ones.
Likewise with poverty: it’s a problem everywhere, but it is worse in the South. This is just statistics, as well as the inherent difficulty in dealing with rural poverty.
Pointing out a region’s faults, though, is not the same thing as stereotyping it, or somehow being opposed to it. I’m very fond of the region, but to me this means wanting to make it better, not being defensive whenever someone makes accurate critiques and says we can do better.
— Steven White - Apr 9, 12:07 PM - #