Southern Culture and Race?

Gora14
Tue, 08 May 2018 23:24:29 +0000

I’m from a more northern urban area and travel to the south quite often, probably an average of 20-30 nights per year the last 8 years. There is a huge contrast in how the races are treated between north and south. Typically in the north I find that people pretend to be colorblind. They pretend not to notice what race someone is, yet there is almost no integration. When you go out, Whites go out with Whites, Blacks with Blacks and Hispanics with Hispanics. In the south, people are much more integrated and do not pretend they do not notice your race. They will ask where you are from, and try to get to know you. I’ve traveled south with friends from different countries and had people come up in restaurants and talk to us, sometimes sitting at the table with us for even half an hour. Had one guy even buy us drinks. Had one northern friend comment how “awkward” and “racist” (yes, racist) that was because the person noticed that we looked different, but there was no malice. It was Southern hospitality and I love it. I remember the first time this happened was in Mississippi traveling with my wife. We pulled into a restaurant late at night and were eating catfish. A guy came up and said, “You’re not from around here. Where you from?” Without asking or even giving us time to respond he pulled up a chair and sat with us and we talked for about fifteen minutes while we ate. Turned out he was the owner. We’d never experienced anything like that before, never in the north, but it has happened to me many times in the south. When I go out in the south, especially in Columbia or Raleigh-Durham, I am shocked at how integrated it is compared to the north. People of different races sit, eat and talk with each other. Yes, they do notice and may comment on your skin color, but I’ve never sensed malice and they also spend time with you and talk with you and treat you like a person. Yes, absolutely, there are racist twits everywhere, but I personally find the attitudes in the South toward race much more refreshing than those in the north, at least in the urban areas I’ve visited.