How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
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Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#2The full title is From the Green Book to Facebook, how black people still need to outwit racists in rural America.
EDIT: The given title is too long to fit the 80 character limit. And I suck at picking new titles. Sorry.
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#3Altered headline aside: yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh; speaking as someone with a bit over a decade of experience with Missouri, if I was anything other than white or Asian I'dn't touch anywhere in it besides St. Louis and Kansas City. And even then, I'd still not touch it if I had to.
This is all anecdotal, of course, but from my experience: the average culture of the state is apathetic at best to things that'd be considered unthinkable to your average person in the vast majority of other states, (incidents involving children openly joking about lynching the only black student in the institution, solely referring to them with slurs as the teachers smiled, listening and doing nothing come to mind; for other minorities, like LGBT, it was a bit worse.) and at worst, encouraged somewhat.
There are a few things that contribute to this, I believe. Primarily, the state is incredibly isolated from the rest of the States. There's no real way for other cultures to reach citizens in the State, because it's not a State with a particular pull. States like New York, California, Texas and Washington all have reasons for your average immigrant to go, yet the state of Missouri is fairly void of reasons. There's no particular industry that excels in it, and few people would think it's particularly a "Cultural Mecca," which results in a lack of people coming in. Despite this, there's a very strong sense of pride you'll see in some, quite like nationalism but pointed directly at the State, which leads to a general dislike of foreigners.
The land itself contributes in a different way. There's very little in it for youths and adults to do within. You have agriculture, the bar scene and . . . that's more or less it. It is incredibly void of anything resembling something of interest. There are fields and shantytowns all about, and the majority of cities within look as if they haven't changed a bit since the 1970s minus a bit of rust and wear - trailer parks without wheels. Arkansas doesn't look a far amount different. Even amongst my (quite liberal for the area) group of friends at the time, you could see resentment build as they saw the interests of other groups getting served, whilst their own almost entirely (from their perspective) ignored.
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#4Altered headline aside: yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh; speaking as someone with a bit over a decade of experience with Missouri, if I was anything other than white or Asian I'dn't touch anywhere in it besides St. Louis and Kansas City. And even then, I'd still not touch it if I had to. This is all anecdotal, of course, but from my experience: the average culture of the state is apathetic at best to things that'd…
I appreciate the real experience in your post. But going into prejudicial generalization of your own (edit: that was before it was edited) helps nothing and is sure to create a flamewar. It may not be as bad as the prejudices discussed in the article, but it's bad enough to give us nothing but scorched earth, so it breaks the site guidelines. If you'd take those to heart when commenting here, we'd appreciate it. This one, for example: "Comments should get more civil and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive."
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#5I had never heard of sundown towns before this article and plan to read the book they link to in the article [1]. One silver lining of the last year or so for me, personally, has been a sort of awakening to the real issues that have persisted in the shadows of the US for marginalized populations. There has always been some level of awareness, but the very concrete and contemporary stories that seem to be pouring out currently have forced me to reconcile that much of the US population doesn't live within my progressive, city living bubble, and just how much worse things are in some places. I don't think I'm alone here.
Some other things I've heard that have reinforced this:
Democracy in Chains: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30011020-democracy-in-ch...
When the Welfare People Come: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29633687-when-the-welfar...
[1]https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52444.Sundown_Towns?ac=1...
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#6> “I prayed that she’d look white, and she does,” he says. “She will be safe.”
This is incredibly sad to read. I wish this government would take a zero-tolerance to racism (like they do with 'terroism'), but we seem to be regressing lately.
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#7Altered headline aside: yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh; speaking as someone with a bit over a decade of experience with Missouri, if I was anything other than white or Asian I'dn't touch anywhere in it besides St. Louis and Kansas City. And even then, I'd still not touch it if I had to. This is all anecdotal, of course, but from my experience: the average culture of the state is apathetic at best to things that'd…
I appreciate the real experience in your post. But going into prejudicial generalization of your own (edit: that was before it was edited) helps nothing and is sure to create a flamewar. It may not be as bad as the prejudices discussed in the article, but it's bad enough to give us nothing but scorched earth, so it breaks the site guidelines. If you'd take those to heart when commenting here, we'd appreciate it. This…
My apologies. I'll admit I'm a bit too passionate on this subject, and worded things too strongly, sorry!
Does the edit fix the problem?
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#8Altered headline aside: yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh; speaking as someone with a bit over a decade of experience with Missouri, if I was anything other than white or Asian I'dn't touch anywhere in it besides St. Louis and Kansas City. And even then, I'd still not touch it if I had to. This is all anecdotal, of course, but from my experience: the average culture of the state is apathetic at best to things that'd…
I'd tend to agree. I spent two years in KCMO even there found the stark black/white racism to be blatant (I'm white and I lived just east of Troost, actually really enjoyed it). I've left for a variety of reasons, aside from the weird race relations.
For those not in the know, Troost is the major divide between the black and white regions of the city. Interestingly, these divisions seem to exist all over urban America: https://demographics.virginia.edu/DotMap/index.html
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
I appreciate the real experience in your post. But going into prejudicial generalization of your own (edit: that was before it was edited) helps nothing and is sure to create a flamewar. It may not be as bad as the prejudices discussed in the article, but it's bad enough to give us nothing but scorched earth, so it breaks the site guidelines. If you'd take those to heart when commenting here, we'd appreciate it. This…
My apologies. I'll admit I'm a bit too passionate on this subject, and worded things too strongly, sorry! Does the edit fix the problem?
As a reader who has seen only the edited version, it seems like a great comment to me. Thanks for your perspective!
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I appreciate the real experience in your post. But going into prejudicial generalization of your own (edit: that was before it was edited) helps nothing and is sure to create a flamewar. It may not be as bad as the prejudices discussed in the article, but it's bad enough to give us nothing but scorched earth, so it breaks the site guidelines. If you'd take those to heart when commenting here, we'd appreciate it. This…
My apologies. I'll admit I'm a bit too passionate on this subject, and worded things too strongly, sorry! Does the edit fix the problem?
it's sad that someone with real experience and open prejudices/honest thoughts shared about Missouri gets down voted. The Guardian is a UK 'champagne socialist' news organization that devotes a lot of column inches/pixels to appraisals of other societies and is highly opinionated. I read it often, not necessarily a criticism.
I'd like to explore north st louis with Ed Pilkington and see his reaction to the residents of that areas feelings towards him..