Racism in the south is different then the rest of America.......both are truly ugly!
Guess non-Southern racism dates back to Lincoln's presidential ideas regarding abolishing slavery.
Guessed wrong. Do you realize that northerners owned slaves, too? General Grant owned slaves at one time. And Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation so that southern black men could fight for the northern army. That was the purpose behind it.
Check out Jim Crow laws. Do you think they only existed in the south? They existed and were used in California and northern states into the late 1920s .And in many places like California and Chicago on into the 1950's. Right here in Grand Rapids, MI, there is a plaque on a building on Lyon street that tells of how the movie theaters were integrated here in 1928. Do your research on line. Look up Jim Crow Laws.
Then look at the fact that by the time the War Between the States was fought, slavery was being phased out in the south, just as it had been in the north. Most southerners did not own slaves. Most of them did not believe it was cool to own slaves. And per a black Professor of History I found on line during the Georgia State Flag, the history even southerners are taught is inaccurate, making the south seem much more evil and villianous than they were. But this is common amongst the victors in any war, to make themselves look better and the losers to look worse. Many blacks picketed to keep the Navy Jack, or Rebel flag on the Georgia State Flag. I found that intriguing, so I did research on the subject. They felt it was part of their heritage. The black professor I mentioned? He pointed out that many slaves fought on the side of the south because they viewed the war as an invasion from the north.
I heard Walter Cronkite on NPR one day, apologizing for the sensationalistic way Networks covered the integration going on all over the country. He pointed out that most integration went down with out incidence and was welcomed, but the press would zero in on southern cities and schools where they could fan the fires and perpetuate the view that prejudice was strictly a southern issue.
Racism up north? Is it different from in the south? Yes, those that are prejudiced here are much more blatant about it and they don't apologize. Here's an example: Co-workers to me, "Heather, why are you always so nice to the black customers?" "She's arguing with you about that price because she's black and she will probably go tell all of her family that the manager didn't give her that price because she's black." "Blacks, they are always whining that we are racists when we don't give them their way." My boss accused my black friend Ev, who was one of those customers I was nice to, of not paying for a to-go iced tea. He would never have done that to a white patron. She consulted a lawyer. And guess what? She hails from Arkansas.
I've heard several older white men, born and raised here, use the N word when speaking of black people.
The neighborhoods here are more segregated than in Atlanta and other southern cities. You don't see the friendliness between blacks and whites in Grand Rapids.
There was a documentary on PBS about Lincoln. He wasn't always as pure in motive as the history books paint him. Do you know that he stopped the exchange of war prisoners between the south and north? Do you know he stopped medication and food from being made available for northern soldiers in southern prison camps? The reason behind this was so that the condition of the soldiers would become so pitiful that General Sherman could whip his soldiers into enough angered frenzy to go burning many southern villages and cities. Sherman was considered to be quite mentally off as well as sadistic.
Prejudice is a human weakness. It exists in Great Britain, Europe, Australia...everywhere. Southern white people never had the market cornered on prejudice, Jim Crow or slavery. The Gerald R. Ford museum here in Grand Rapids has a whole exhibit devoted to educating the public on the real history of slavery in the US.
