How much racism do you think is still in the south|
By BethTN81
@BethTN81 (564)
United States
May 4, 2009 1:12pm CST
I was talking to an Italian Foreign Exchange Student a fews weeks ago and she asked me if racism is still bad in the south. She has read about the civil war, and wondered about how far we have come today. When she asked me that question I honeselt ywas set back. I thought about it for a minute and gave her my HONEST answer. I told her that more than likley the majority of southerners are still racist but wont really voice it out.
I see too people all the time talking to others of a different race and then as soon as the person is gone the racial slurs come.
I am not racist. I was not raised to be racist, and I am not going to raise my son to be racist. To me people are people. Doesnt matter if my neighbor is orange with purple polka dots they are still people. That is how I was raised and that is how I will raise my own.
Anyway, do you all agree that racism is still pretty bad in the south? I am not talking KKK white sheets over the head wearing people. I am not talking about skinheads. I am talking when you get deep down into your soul. Are you REALLY racist?
3 people like this
8 responses
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
5 May 09
no, i am not a racist even tho i have lived in tennessee all my life. i wasn't raised to be neither were my sons. is racism still here?? oh yes, it is but it is other places to not just the south. it may be voiced more here but it still everywhere & probably always be. it's a shame that people can't accept people for who they are instead of what color skin they have. that hasn't got anything to do w/people. there are good in bad in all races.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
5 May 09
thanks again for the best response. are you from tennessee??
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
5 May 09
kind of thought so when i saw the tn in your user name. i have never found too many people on here from tennessee. it's nice to meet you. i live in west tennessee, martin. thanks again for the best responses.
@Mikaela_taz25 (1842)
• Philippines
5 May 09
I knew really knew the purpose of KKK in that part of the US. but my impression of that organization was some what related to the Nazi Organizations in Germany way back 1930's. 
but i hope you share some enlightenment with me regarding that organization. No, am no racist, but there are still some scum bags still hating for no reason.
@BethTN81 (564)
• United States
5 May 09
The Ku Klux Klan began years and years ago. It was started in Pulaski Tennessee by a man named Nathan Bedford Forrest. The KKK first was an organization where husbands were secretly members. Wives and other family members would not know their loved ones were members in many cases. My mother and grandmother told me that the KKK did not start out as a really bad thing at first. It was not about hating blacks and other races. If a father, or husband(of any color) was not supporting their families and was a "deadbeat" they would burn a cross in their yard as a warning.
Later on another man gained control of the KKK and it turned into a hate organization which to my knowledge is what it still is today. It may not be as violent but it is terribly racist.
Also, the KKK is not as popular as it was in the early and mid 1900s. We do not have sheet wearing racists walking the streets. I actually live 20 minutes from Pulaski TN and there are no KKK members there at all. There is a statue of Forrest in the town square and some KKK members do travel to Pulaski and walk around the square every so often thinking they are intimidating but they are laughed at.
People in other countries thing we are still this way and we really are not. Yes there is still racism in the south, but the thing is the ones who are racist are too scared to admit it. If you hear racial slurs they are under peoples breath and not said out loud. Some people just don'r change and they never will but I assure you the south is a great place to live and all races live here. Some people are just idiots when it comes to others being physically different. Then again, like what others have said. It is like that everywhere.
@taface412 (3175)
• United States
4 May 09
Everyone has a prejudice when it comes down to it. And prejusdice can lead to racism and because it is a touchy subject people will have a hard time learning the difference between the two.
I am not rascist and was not raised that way. And it was not until I was in high school when I realized my parents, who were raised up North, had their own sets of prejudices (not out of hatred or fear towards other ethinicities) but from what happened when the two races were integrated. My mother was in school when bussing occurred. ANd I had no idea until I was discussing this with her she had her own biases, but through our talks we both learned a thing or two. My lesson was that even though parents may feel or fear something themselves they can be able to not teach their children hatred. But then again my parents were the ones who always stood up for others no matter their skin tone or background.
I was lucky. ANd yes, it is still alive in the south. White and black people both.
@rea_of_sunshine (2)
• United States
5 May 09
My parents pretty much raised me to be blind to skin color. It wasn't that they ever said anything to me specifically, but because they weren't racist and never said anything derogatory about someone of a different race, I never noticed the difference until I was in first grade and a little girl wouldn't play with me because I was white. I remember not understanding and I remember crying...and I still remember her name. (This was in Virginia by the way-some people consider that the south, others don't, so take from that what you want.)
Even still, I don't consider myself a racist. I think that judging a person by their skin color is as silly as judging them by their eye color or shoe size...or whether they have straight or curly hair. I think a lot of people feel the same, including people in the south. I think now, it doesn't matter so much where you are from to determine whether you are racist or not, but more so how you were raised and what the people raising you believe. If your parents are racist, you are much more likely to be and vice versa.
Now I think that the issue is that there have been so many people that were discriminated against, that they then discriminated back and taught their children that discrimination. So now, everyone has someone that dislikes them because the color of their skin...white, black, brown, yellow, tan...whatever...but I don't believe that it has to do with living in the south or not.
@dmrone (746)
• United States
4 May 09
I live in Alabama. There are still people who are racist, but to say they are from the south, no. I think racism runs rampant all over the face of the world, not just in the south. You can meet racist people in any part of the country you want to travel. I am not racist, and i am not rearing my children to be racist either.
@Jenniferp (210)
• United States
5 May 09
I know that there is still a lot of racism in the south. I live in north GA and have lived with "rednecks" my entire life. I have heard the N word as a normal thing. During the Obama presidential race, it really was disgusting how the most ignorant people acted. I sometimes feel that I was born to in the wrong place with the wrong people. Most of it is just uneducated ignorance though...
Did you see the new show on TLC called "Guess whos coming over", ( I think that is the title)? It was filmed very close to my home and really tells you everything. The good news is that it is changing. Obama will really do a lot for this country. I think that real growth will be wonderful ;p)
@sweetashoney (3597)
• United States
4 May 09
I agree with everything that your saying, but yes there is always going to be racism in the south. I was born and raised in the south a long time ago, and trust me some things hasn't changed or never will, when it comes to that issue. The difference between now and say 40 years ago is people can't be openly racist, its still there but people are more discrete about it or as people say now they keep it on the down low. With some,because they can't be bold with it, they have taken it to the Internet, in order to trow their hatred around. As far as, do I think deep down that I could be really be racist, I don't think I'm any better than anyone else as far as that goes. But I think everybody believes things or does things that would make then racist to other cultures no matter who you are.
@zoey7879 (3092)
• Quincy, Illinois
4 May 09
I lived in Alabama for a few years, and my experiences tell me that it really depends on where you live. I lived and worked in two towns so close together that they literally shared the same streets. In one of them, no one really cared who was what. In the other, my roommate (who's Irish) had his life threatened for working in a Mexican family restaurant. I know of a nurse who had to argue with her husband over the hipocrat (sp!?) oath because he didn't want her helping people who weren't white. It makes me terribly ill to think that people are this way.
