Southern culture is the most misunderstood in the world. For that reason alone, I have been snubbed many times and people sometimes even called me a racist based on my accent alone. Those who snubbed me did not even bother to understand Southern culture before branding the lot of us racist Neanderthals. It would seem to me that these Northern liberal elitists are every bit as intolerant and prejudicial as they accused us of being.
For most of American history, Southerners have been classified as intellectually inferiour. The national press has been among the worst offenders of keeping this stereotype alive. The network CBS has a commentator named Dan Rather who was born and raised in Wharton, Texas. When he entered the business of broadcasting, they required him to learn to speak “the purest form” of American English (according to linguists, that is the Nebraska accent). The United States is a large and diverse country that should be proud of every accent within its borders. It is very interesting that these elitists who favour imposing Nebraska English on all broadcasters favours the teaching in schools of a black dialect called "ebonics".
The press isn’t the only one who maintains a negative stereotype of the Southern culture. The academic community does it as well. I never will forget the day of my first class at George Mason University. My first class was French. We introduced ourselves in English and on hearing my introduction, the professor asked me if I was in the right class. He thought I didn’t belong in French class, nor possibly at university. They say that results are the best revenge. I made good grades in his class. Two years later (the summer of 1989) I studied French in Nice, and the year after that, Spanish in Madrid.
Dan Rather and I aren’t the only victims of negative stereotypes against the South. The anti-Southern culture was around long before I was born in 1969, and before Dan Rather was born in 1931, but really since the founding of this country. Citizens of Boston and Philadelphia, for example, looked down on the rural people, particularly those in the South.
What is Southern culture? The South exalrs civility, community, and place. There's also, among many, a strong strain of "leave us alone and let us be". All that translates into and draws from...
- Profound support for the military and what it does, in a region boasting more active and retired military- and more military bases- than any other.
- Liberty and democracy- here and abroad, even unto Iraq and the Middle East.
- Hostility to federal mandates and oversight. In other words, the wisdom to know that what works in Albany, New York may not work in Albany, Georgia.
- Deeply held beliefs about things cultural- what to say and how to do.
Despite what you may have learned in class about the so-called "Civil War", properly called the War Between the States (because we were a separate country) or the War of Northern Aggression, the primary cause wasn’t slavery, but rather the cotton trade. Because of the climate and the soil, cotton grows only in the South. The Southern states demanded more autonomy of the foreign cotton trade because Congress, at that time, by Northerners who wanted to reap every bit of profit from Southern labour.
Thirteen states starting with South Carolina and including Virginia formed the Confederate States of America. Because we were another country, just like Sweden is from Finland, we had our own flag and we printed our own momey. (Sometimes in modern Southern slang, something useless or without value is describes as “worth its weight in Confederate money.”)
The myth that slavery was the main cause of the War of Northern Aggression originated because most people- up North and down South- were illiterate at that time. This majority could not understand the finer points of the cotton trade, but they could grasp the concept of slavery. The truth is, slavery would have died out before 1900, even if the South had won the war. Also, most Southerners were too poor to own slaves (that was true of my ancestors). It cost a lot to maintain the health and well-being of each slave and plantations began using new machines that would do the work of 50 slaves in 1/10 of the time.
After the war, the North treated the South badly for daring to secede from the Union. A century later, there was a battle for civil rights. I am ashamed that segregation lasted from 1865-1970. However, I believe the federal government only had the right to intervene on matters of voting rights. As worthwhile as equal public accomodations may sound, only the individual states, not the government in Washington, D.C., should decide these things. That is to say, only the people from Alabama should make decisions for Alabama.
Because the South defied one form of Northern aggression in the 1860’s and another form of it a century later, the press classified us as the 3 R’s: rural racist rednecks. For example, since 1965, each Southern state had to submit its plan for drawing legislative districts to Washington, D.C. for approval by the federal government. The law still exists more than 35 years later. How much longer will the South be punished? This is one law the governors of the 13 Southern states ought to defy. That is to say, they should just implement their legislative district boundaries without bothering to send the plan to the federal government.
I see hypocrisy here. The state of Virginia, not New York or California, elected America’s first black governor (Doug Wilder, 1989). Furthermore, no other state has elected a black governor since then. At the same time you hear of police brutality or racial profiling (which some police officers make it a point of targeting black motorists for random stops and searches), it is worth noting that the most egregious examples of this occur not in Richmond, Atlanta, or Charlotte, but in New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey.
The national press fails to criticise some people for idolising the likes of a racist such as Louis Farrakhan, who at one time advocated the slaughter of all whites and that Hillary Clinton during her Senate campaign in New York felt compelled to be seen with a demagogue like Al Sharpton (who took part in advocating a rape charge against a black woman that never really happened, just to get even with white people). The same people who support such overt racists as Farrakhan and Sharpton think it is racist to fly the Confederate flag over South Carolina’s state capitol building in the city of Columbia. They also think it is racist to display a mural of General Robert E. Lee along Richmond’s flood wall, but it was perfectly all right to burn that mural on Martin Luther King day. If a white Southerner had destroyed a mural of Martin Luther King or Arthur Ashe, the national press would have classified Richmond as the most racist city on the United States.
From what I have learned about Martin Luther King, he would not have wanted his birthday celebrated in hatred or revenge. Unfortunately, it is true that some racist groups have adopted the Confederate flag as their symbol, but that racism does not represent the philosophy of most Southerners. Flying the Confederate flag simply honours our ancestors. The national press seems to classify any display of Southern pride as racist.
I am tired of being snubbed by those who don’t understand, or try not to understand Southern culture. I will not take it anymore. The cultural elites classify Southerners as intolerant, but their lack of undrstanding of our culture makes them equally intolerant. To those offended by the very sight of the Confederate flag or the Robert E. Lee mural, noone is forcing them to live in the South. There are 37 other states in the United States and more than 200 countries in the world from which to choose. There is no such thing as a "right never to be offended."
I know not what course others may take, but as for me, I will continue to display my Soiuthern pride. I will continue to display the Confederate flag regardless of what others think. Furthermore, every time I see hypocrisy propounded by the cultural elite, I will publicly expose it.
I am no longer surprised nor hurt when I get snubbed just for being Southern. I don’t give a damn what others think. Their hypocrisy is almost comical. I know that what is most important is the opinions of those who know me the best. With that kind of support, I can take any insult.
