Southern Discomfort

Having come into this country (New York) in my mid-teens, my first exposure to Southern people and life was when I joined the army four years later. The two things that stroke me the most was how, in spite of the stereotypical racism associated with the South, I had more in common culturally with Southerners than I did with people from up north, in spite of having lived there for four years. Hispanic and Southern culture were very similar, yet I never encountered open, blatant racism directly until I met those people (both black AND white). To boot, my best friends ended up being Southerners as well. Go figure : )

The other surprising thing, is how many of them were still fighting the Civil War in their minds. Nevermind that what the South wanted was to secede from the nation they loved so much, somehow they never seemed troubled about those contradictions.

The south is the beneficiary of multiple generations of poor pre and postnatal nutrition and a historical lack of investment in education.

I am a thirty-nine year old, Catholic soccer mom born and raised in the south. I was raised by a mother who picked cotton alongside the grandchildren of slaves. She earned the same thirty cents for her bag that they did. I am thrilled that Barack Hussein Obama is going to be the Demcocratic nominee for president. He is a gifted politician. I have tremendous admiration for his intellect and rhetoric. I will not vote for him for president. He has consistently moved toward the center, never establishing a position of his own. There are no scholarly papers with his name on them to establish his core beliefs. He has no substantial voting record to show us how he would make judgements or govern. I would have no problem voting for a man named Barrack Hussein Obama. I'm just not sure who he is.

Very thoughtful writing here.

Indeed, it will be very interesting to see if from this next general election we can detect signs of any shift or change in patterns. As for "Lincoln's unifying message" it specifically was not to free slaves. Rather, he's quite famous for saying he'd free no slaves if that would avoid or end the civil war


I do

It???s very easy to build up a huge city out of nothing, in the middle of wilderness, just like the city of Dubai, once humble fishermen little down.
But it???s still a titanic combat to build up strong minds through positive thinking.
Ignorance kills, like HIV/AIDS does.
Eddy, Belgium.

It???s very easy to build up a huge city out of nothing, in the middle of wilderness, just like the city of Dubai, once humble fishermen little down.
But it???s still a titanic combat to build up strong minds through positive thinking.
Ignorance kills, like HIV/AIDS does.
Eddy, Belgium.

I'm sorry, but the unwillingness of some of the people interviewed to change their minds when confronted with indisputable facts leaves me very discouraged in respect to the possibility of their intellectual advancement. Their beliefs, no matter how wrongheaded and ignorant will continue until their death. Sad.

I think you have it about right, Christopher, although there is a growing diversitiy throughout the south. Having lived many years in Virginia and coastal Mississippi, I've pretty much seen it all. I was in a different schoolyard in 1960--but heard the same comments. One difference, however: it's been a long time since I've seen a Democratic presidential candidate willing to try to take some of the South--John Kerry announced he wasn't even going to try!
Marjie

The Horrors of Georgia A Contemporary Dichotomy
By Carl A. Patton, FreedomJournal
A NOTE IN BLACK HISTORY

The early history of Georgia is clearly recorded as horrible and extremely racist. Thus, contemporary Georgia poses a peculiar dichotomy. A dichotomy is a division into two parts, groups or classes, especially when these are sharply distinguished or opposed.

Contemporary Georgia and the image of Atlanta is sharply opposed to what we know about early Georgia. The history of Georgia depicts a horrific chapter written in the blood of hundreds of Black people who were brutally murdered during the 100 years of lynching.

During the 100 years of lynching Black people, most especially Black males were brutally murdered throughout the South. From the recorded accounts of these mass murders Georgia held a particular distinction. Yes, Georgia was noted as the state that witnessed the most instances of White mobs murdering Black people. Georgia as the most active region that participated in this aspect of the ongoing Black Holocaust led the nation in the murder of Blacks.

As Georgia established itself as the lynch capital of America, it is for sure that lynching was only symbolic. Thus, in most instances' Blacks that were lynched usually died of torture. A straight lynching was very civilized compared to how most of the poor Black souls died.

Ginzburg in his book 100 Years of Lynching collects numerous newspaper reports about lynching during this period. This source duly records the Georgia lynchings and the graphic description of how these people died. The Black men that met the fate of the White lynch mobs was murdered and dehumanized in every way possible. This process of murder was dehumanizing because the Black body even after death was totally dismembered.

The Horrors of Georgia A Contemporary Dichotomy
By Carl A. Patton, FreedomJournal
A NOTE IN BLACK HISTORY

The early history of Georgia is clearly recorded as horrible and extremely racist. Thus, contemporary Georgia poses a peculiar dichotomy. A dichotomy is a division into two parts, groups or classes, especially when these are sharply distinguished or opposed.

Contemporary Georgia and the image of Atlanta is sharply opposed to what we know about early Georgia. The history of Georgia depicts a horrific chapter written in the blood of hundreds of Black people who were brutally murdered during the 100 years of lynching.

During the 100 years of lynching Black people, most especially Black males were brutally murdered throughout the South. From the recorded accounts of these mass murders Georgia held a particular distinction. Yes, Georgia was noted as the state that witnessed the most instances of White mobs murdering Black people. Georgia as the most active region that participated in this aspect of the ongoing Black Holocaust led the nation in the murder of Blacks.

As Georgia established itself as the lynch capital of America, it is for sure that lynching was only symbolic. Thus, in most instances' Blacks that were lynched usually died of torture. A straight lynching was very civilized compared to how most of the poor Black souls died.

Ginzburg in his book 100 Years of Lynching collects numerous newspaper reports about lynching during this period. This source duly records the Georgia lynchings and the graphic description of how these people died. The Black men that met the fate of the White lynch mobs was murdered and dehumanized in every way possible. This process of murder was dehumanizing because the Black body even after death was totally dismembered.

Yesterday, Nancy Pfotenhauer, Sen. John McCain???s (R-AZ) senior policy adviser,claimed that she had been misinformed when she falsely stated that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ???did not spill a drop of oil.Today, McCain made another misinformed??? argument, claiming that oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have survived, very successfully, the impacts of hurricanes:

Q: I???ve been listening to your comments around renewable resources ??? solar, tide, and wind ??? you???ve talked a lot about that, but you keep peppering your comments with offshore drilling. But I???m not sure what you think the impact on our environment is based on that.

A: Keep the microphone. I???m aware that off the coast of Louisiana and Texas there are oil rigs, as we well know, and those rigs have survived, very successfully, the impacts of hurricanes ??? hurricane Katrina as far as Louisiana is concerned.

McCain is wrong. According to press reports, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ???tore through the Gulf of Mexico???s offshore oil and gas fields, toppling production platforms, setting rigs adrift and rupturing pipelines.??? The U.S. Minerals Management Service reported that the hurricanes totally destroyed 113 offshore oil platforms.

The hurricanes cost Transocean, the largest offshore driller, ???about $135 million in repairs, downtime and equipment upgrades??? alone, and damage to offshore producers accounted for 77 percent of the oil industry???s storm costs. One offshore rig, the Ocean Warwick, drifted 66 nautical miles before running aground.

i was in the south with a nj accent ,california plates and poor and my sisters cajun boyfriend in the wife beaters so he could look the part... she's learned all kinds of bigotry too.
it was a dangerous time for the yankee i found out i was.
some of the usa is truly another third world.

The mantra of the Democrat presidential candidate seems to consistently be CHANGE, but we don't have a true definition of CHANGE. November 2006; control of Congress changed from the Republicans to the Democrats, Nancy Pelosi took control and all the committee chairs CHANGED. Did we have CHANGE? Gasoline went from $2.35 to $4.25; food has skyrocketed; the stock market has plummeted into bear territory, the mortgage market is in shambles, Pelosi changed from a small government plane to a jet fuel guzzling 747 so she could take more people with her on boondoggles. Barack wants to change the war from Iraq to Afghanistan. The Democrats went on vacation before dealing with the energy crisis, proving that they only care about themselves and not the little people they are supposed to represent (who can???t afford to go on vacation due to high energy costs)

The problem with this report as well as recent coverage is that Newsweek is missing the true story of the election; that is whether or not we want 4 (or 8) more years of George Bush's policies. John McCain is a nice old man (maybe) but his policy prescriptions will be a disaster for America. Whether you talk about the endless war in Iraq or his hope to dismantle what's left of employer based health insurance, it is McCain's proposals which should be the subject of this reporting. As long as Newsweek makes this an election about Obama, I'm afraid we all will loose.

If we are doomed to repeat what has come before us, nothing will ever change. This, however, is simply not true as the transformation of the South shows us. Saying "Obama is all about hate" is tantamount to saying "Southerners are all about hate" because they too listened to hateful speeches at homes and in churches, witnessed unspeakable crimes against people of color on the streets and under the trees. It is time for divisive politics, polarizing name-calling to end. I live in the South, my children were born in the South. It is time for "one nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for ALL" [emphasis added].

From the beginning of this farce we are calling an "election", I have had the sick, sinking feeling that we are being played as we have never been before. (obviously, to rig another election would have just been too blatant and too risky).
I have had reservations about Obama from the start- not in any way because he is African-American, but because I had the impression (subtle at first, but now screaming at me) that he is pandering. He isn't genuine. McCain, for obvious reasons, has never been an option.
Reading this article, the most prevalent impression I'm getting is that America is being torn apart quite literally, in the cruelest and most destructive ways possible.
Look at the people who are influencing our so-called government; whose interests are served only, to the complete exclusion of America's.
God Help us.

Charlotte, North Carolina did not become a banking center after the Civil War because of prejudice of southerners in New York. It wasn't until the 1970's that Charlotte became a secondary banking center. After the Civil War Charlotte became a cotton processing center and railroad hub. This lasted well into the 1960's when I first went through the town. The Bank of America, which began life as the Bank of Italy in 1904 in San Francisco, also couldn't have participated in the post-Civil War financial services boom. Finally, Wachovia began in 1879 in Winston-Salem, a neighbor and somewhat close to the fact you cite but, once again, operations weren't transferred to Charlotte until the merger with First Union in 2001.

The GOP would rather you like McCain, because he seems so solidly 'old school'...so wonderfully patriotic, after all he has been in Washington for 25 years...he was a pilot (logged a whole 20 hours of flying) during Vietnam. Well, here are some facts, since the GOP doesn't like to deal in those:

McCain graduated from college at the BOTTOM of his class: 894th out of 899th. That alone makes it easy to see why he can't keep the factions and politics of the middle east strait when talks about them. It also explains why he says he doesn't know much about the economy...I certainly believe it!

McCain on Family values: After returning from Vietnam, he finds that his wife has been disabled in a car crash. While still married and living with his 1st wife in 1979 he was, according to The New York Times, ???aggressively courting a 25-year-old woman who was as beautiful as she was rich.??? (McCain then divorced his wife, who had raised their three children alone while he was imprisoned in Vietnam, and launched his political career with his new wife???s family money.)

McCain on the Economy:
- In December 07 he said, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should."
- In January 08 he said, ???I don???t believe we???re headed into a recession,??? he said, ???I believe the fundamentals of this economy are strong and I believe they will remain strong.???
- In March 08 he said, "I will not play election year politics with the housing crisis," adding, "I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." - Guess it's not his problem if thousands of Americans become homeless thanks to deregulations in the mortgage industry (which were supported by McCain).
- In April 08 when asked about the state of the economy, "I???m very concerned about it, Neil. And obviously the way it???s been going up is just terrible. But I think psychologically ??? and a lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological ??? the confidence, trust, the uncertainty about our economic future, ability to keep our own home."
- In April 08 when asked about why he supported the gas tax holiday, "This might give them a little psychological boost. Let???s have some straight talk, it???s not a huge amount of money"

McCain on Taxation:
- In 2001 he argued AGAINST Bush's tax cuts saying, "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle class Americans who most need tax relief."
- In 2006 he said, "The tax cuts are now there, and voting to revoke them would have been to -- not to extend them would have meant a tax increase." Even tax-cutting advocates who cheered McCain's reversal could not help but call it what it was: "It's a big flip-flop," said conservative moveme