Growing up in Florida, of Southern parents, and then living later in Atlanta, I have never bought the contention that bigotry is solely a Southern phenomenon. Over at Orcinus, Dave Neiwert has a piece on "Sundown Towns" and the horrific effect of racism across the country. Fascinating reading.
The reason it matters? Because pointing fingers at the South does nothing beyond stir resentments, while not addressing the widespread nature of the problem. Just yesterday, for MLK Day, someone in a condo across from the Starbuck's had hoisted a Confederate flag. A Confederate flag which doesn't fly any other day of the year. In California.
The piece on "sundown towns" part of a series on eliminationism in America. Important -- if scary -- reading.
Boy, now I have some questions to ask my parents about their residence in Levittown somewhere around 1970...
ReplyDeleteI know a bit about La Jolla, where I did my internship - apparently the residents of La Jolla were originally against the formation of UCSD there, some 55 years ago, as they didn't want the new university to attract Jews to the neighborhood. Sigh...