If the House of Reps is the Plantation, is Hilary casting herself as Harriet Tubman? If so, that's a worse casting job than Al Pacino playing James Bond.

J. Franklin wrote:

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Any of you who experienced the bitter racism of the South-which still exists-would not skip so lightly over this horrible reference.

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I witnessed more racism in the Northeast than I ever dreamed of down here. Whether you'll admit or not, this campus has been run like a plantation for many years. If you think my use of that word is racism you need to brush up on your history.

J. Franklin wrote:

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Any of you who experienced the bitter racism of the South-which still exists-would not skip so lightly over this horrible reference.

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The New Orleans Mayor said that New Orleans should and will become a "Chocolate" city. Was that also a horribly racist reference?

Ya know, I am truly amazed by the idea that there is all this racism in the South that just doesn't exist anywhere else in the universe. I attended an integrated public school (approx. 60% white, 40% African-American) in the South. I played sports with African-Americans, I went to college with African-Americans, I have studied with African-Americans, I have partied with African-Americans, and I have worked with African-Americans. Every time I go to Wal-Mart or the mall, I shop with African-Americans. When I go to a restaurant, I dine alongside African-Americans, and when I go to the doctor, I sit beside African-Americans in the waiting room.

But I don't think about the fact that I'm doing any of that stuff with African-Americans, because MOST of Southern society is fully integrated to the point that anyone under the age of 50 has been doing that stuff his or her entire adolescent and adult life, if not since birth. I'm one of those people.

The idea that the South is some kind of weird time warp world where slavery still exists is preposterous. Most Neo-Nazi skinhead types abide in the North/Northwest, and the last I heard, the HQ of the KKK was in Indiana. Horrible things took place in the South, of that there is no doubt. However, Rodney King was in LA (not Louisiana), and the NYPD (not the Hattiesburg PD) sodomized that guy with a plunger. Things are bad all over. It's not a Southern problem now, it's a worldwide problem now. The nature of hate -- Arabs hating Jews, Jews hating Arabs, Chechs hating Slovaks, Slovaks hating Chechs, Whites hating Blacks, Blacks hating Whites, and everyone hating the French -- is not a Southern failing. It's a human failing.

No one in my family ever owned a slave. I am not a Klansman, nor have I beaten, jeered, or otherwise mistreated those who seek civil rights. That doesn't make me a good person, but it does lead to one thing. I won't let anybody make me feel like I've got a problem just because I live in the South. Those who cry about racism in the South probably have never been outside of it.

Trollicus wrote:

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Awesome post, Guesstimate. Two points, however.  I would hazard to say that many who cry about racism in the South have never actually been to the South, but shape their views around preconceived notions and movies like Mississippi Burning.  And second, I'm not sure hating the French is necessarily a bad thing. Okay, that last part was a joke. Yes Quarter

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You guys are indulging in the same kind of stereotyping of "non-southerners" as you accuse them of doing to you.

Let it rest. It is a long leap from talking about Hillary perceived political or personal faults to making Hillary be a stand-in for all-things-not southern.

Yes there is racism in Yankeeville. This has hardly been news since Martin Luther King marched through Cicero. I've lived in both regions and -- there are about an equal number of folks in both who seem convinced that the other region is more racist and hypocritical than the other.

Smugness is self righteousness isn't pretty whether it is north or south of the Mason Dixon line.

Stephen,

I hate to take you to task, but I usually expect better than this from you.  But here you get an F in reading comprehension. Where did I blanketly stereotype non-Southerners in my post?  I hate to put this in such plain terms, but your comments read like so many pat-answer rebuttals the minute any southerner has the temerity (or to put it in your condescending term, "smugness") to suggest that maybe the south is not such a backward place.  It's all fine and good when public discourse is dwelling on the deplorable racial injustices committed here fifty years ago, replete with subtle hints of "ya know what, I'll betcha they're still like that now."  But it's suddenly time to "let it rest" and move on whenever that distorted and exclusionary vision is challenged.  After all, such commentary must be written off as Whitey apologia, no?  God forbid we might inadvertantly shatter the precious perception that most of today's south is populated the great unwashed league of bigots.  While I do not mean to quantify you, Stephen, with all (or necessarily any) of the above, I did want to point out that your below post did smack of much of that irritability.

Hillary's "plantation" remark is relevant to all of this because of the undeniably smug underscoring she attached when using it (her "if you know what I mean" jab).  I'm not sure where you get the idea that anyone is leapfrogging her to the bastion of "all-things-not-southern"; I was content with "all things condescending and race-baiting."

No Quarter (just give it to me as two dimes and a nickel instead)

Racism still exists in all parts of country.It currently marches under a different name:Affirmative Action.

Black vs White wrote:

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Racism still exists in all parts of country.It currently marches under a different name:Affirmative Action.

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In my experience, there's sadly plenty of the old kind of racism left, not to mention the powerful tendency--shared by us all--of putting the responsibility for social problems on everyone else. That solution is comfortable. It allows us to bask in the glow of moral outrage at no expense to our self-esteem. But it's misleading. It overlooks the fact that none of us are perfect, and that in fact we are all fallen human beings. As Hamlet said, "Use every man after his own desserts, and who would 'scape whipping?"

JL

savvydapunch wrote:

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Maybe Hillary has read the piece in Academe that our colleague, Ivory Phillips from Jackson State wrote a couple of years ago, characterizing HBCUs as plantations

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How is it that Ivory can use the word "plantations" but Hillary can't?

LVN wrote:

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It would be fascinating to read this author's take on USM's present situation.

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Maybe AAUP-USM could invite her down to give a presentation. Mitch, are you listening?