North Vs South

[Golden_Cross]

I was born in SC but I was raised in Oh. My family is split as half live there and half live here....

Anyways. I went down to visit my mom and realized something so weird to me.. My step dad took us to a waffle house and there was a black family in there. I'm use to being around other races but my step dad was slingging the "n" word around like it was nothing... Up here where I live if a white person would do that they would get jumped beat up or even killed! I never realized how down in the south they treated people so much different. In Ohio calling someone that would be unexceptionable. WOW!

 

[WatersMoon110]

I, like you have both family in Ohio and family in the South, Florida. And my father's family (in the South) is racist. They would think nothing of using the dreaded n-word.

On a personal not, I learned the n-word when someone on the playground said it while I was in kindergarten. I said it only once, and have said it only once - since my mother immediately informed me what it means (that it is an insult for Black people) and I have never used it since.

And I don't understand why anyone would want to use such a horrible and negative word. Like you said, up here it is socially unacceptable (in most places - like Akron, where we live now) to be openly racist.

 

[God-free]

It is mindboggling, isn't it? Too many people still have a lot of catching-up to do.

~Barbara

 

[Morcova]

Kindly paint with a less broad brush.

 

[God-free]

To whom are you speaking, Morcova? Me, or the OP?

~Barbara

 

[Morcova]

To whom are you speaking, Morcova? Me, or the OP?

~Barbara

The OP.

 

[God-free]

Okay, gotcha.

~Barbara

 

[No Swansong]

I'm not sure what part of Ohio you live in but I assure you that racism, including the use of racist language is alive and well in the Buckeye state.

 

[SpaceProg]

Racism is alive and well in every state in the Union, in many forms. No one region has a monopoly on it. It may be expressed differently, or less obviously, in one place over another, but it's everywhere.

I'm beginning to think it's part of human nature that has to be fought off if we're ever going to get along.

 

[revanneosl]

People who use that word in front of me get flat-out hollered at, unless I am in their home. If I'm in their home, I leave. Voicing racist sentiments or telling racist "jokes" in front of me gets you told in no uncertain terms to stop once, then twice, and then the hollering and/or leaving starts.

What are other people's policies, vis a vis being part of the solution to this social problem?

 

[No Swansong]

People who use that word in front of me get flat-out hollered at, unless I am in their home. If I'm in their home, I leave. Voicing racist sentiments or telling racist "jokes" in front of me gets you told in no uncertain terms to stop once, then twice, and then the hollering and/or leaving starts.

What are other people's policies, vis a vis being part of the solution to this social problem?

Would that be the case if it were two african americans using the term affectionately? Indeed I know many who use the term in this manner.

As for how I react I don't try to correct people and their use of language. In most cases I would much rather look past their language and get to know the individual.

 

[The Princess Bride]

You find rascism everywhere, but I think people "expect" to find it more prevelant in southern states due to a conditioned mentality going back to the Civil War.

 

[SpaceProg]

Well, like I was told growing up: "If you look for the bad, you're going to find it. Even where it isn't." So expecting it only leads to seeing it everywhere you look, moreso than if you didn't expect it.

 

[revanneosl]

Would that be the case if it were two african americans using the term affectionately? Indeed I know many who use the term in this manner.

No. I'm only talking about when I'm around white people who are clearly attempting to "include me in" on racist statements, epithets and "jokes"

As for how I react I don't try to correct people and their use of language. In most cases I would much rather look past their language and get to know the individual.

Well, you and I differ there. I'd frankly rather that somebody held me down physically and actually took a dump in my ear than that they spew racism in my ear. I tried being "tolerant" of racism and I found that the shame of not confronting evil to its face kept me up at night. Sincerely - I'm not making this up. When I tried to laugh it off "oh, that's just the way he is" I actually lost sleep over the shame of it.

When I was confirmed, they asked me some questions. One of them was this one:

"Do you accept the freedom and power Christ gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?"

I have the feeling I'm going to spend the rest of my life working out the ramifications of that, but for sure I'm not going to let the evil of racism go down in my presence without at least calling it by its name.

 

[BananaSlug]

What about when black people call white people "crackers", "rednecks", or "honkies"? Are they not racial slurs as well? Racism/"Ethnicism" is prevalent in all cultures. Jew/Arab, Black/White, English/French, etc. It doesn't make it right and it will most likely continue for a while. What grinds my gears are people who help perpetuate the racial stereotypes against themselves.
I listened to a radio broadcast a while ago by a person who was black. While he was in school he worked hard to make good grades and his peers claimed he was trying to "act white." The person said that if trying to get a good education is "acting white" then is neglecting your education "acting black"? My mom who is a elementary gifted student teacher has witnessed her black students being picked on by other black students for being in the gifted class. Racism is as ingrained in both ethnic groups.

(Sorry if I offend anybody for using the term "black" and "white". I abhor the term "African-American" as an ethnic description. Someone from South Africa could be as white as snow and is technically an "African." Someone from Northern Africa most likely has an Arabian complexion. Technically, white people should be called "European-Americans" instead of "Caucasian" which is a very broad term and an outdated racial description.)

 

[geekgirlkelli]

You find rascism everywhere, but I think people "expect" to find it more prevelant in southern states due to a conditioned mentality going back to the Civil War.

I don't know about that. I was born and raised here in Buffalo and have done two stints in the south, the first when I was 16 years old. When I was 16 I had no social conditioning that led me to think that racism would have been more prevalent (or even existed) in the south. And boy, was I in for a surprise. I was in Eden NC for a radio internship and I was completely shocked the day I was riding in a car with the family I was staying with and they pulled into a relative's apartment complex where there was a black man standing in the doorway of an apartment and they rolled down the window and started shouting at him -- both racial slurs and telling him to leave and to die.

I was scared to death over that. I had experienced hate in school but not from adults to other adults. Later when I lived in Virginia for four years (2000-2004) in the Blacksburg/New River Valley area and traveling to several cities in VA, WV, NC, SC, MD and OH regularly as part of my job, it was not as shocking but definitely still way more hatred for other races in the south than I have ever experienced up north.

 

[angellica]

Where I'm from, I hear something racist every single day. I've heard at least 5 people I work with use the N word, including the guy who hired me. It's hard NOT to be a racist and live here!!

 

[No Swansong]

No. I'm only talking about when I'm around white people who are clearly attempting to "include me in" on racist statements, epithets and "jokes"



Well, you and I differ there. I'd frankly rather that somebody held me down physically and actually took a dump in my ear than that they spew racism in my ear. I tried being "tolerant" of racism and I found that the shame of not confronting evil to its face kept me up at night. Sincerely - I'm not making this up. When I tried to laugh it off "oh, that's just the way he is" I actually lost sleep over the shame of it.

When I was confirmed, they asked me some questions. One of them was this one:

"Do you accept the freedom and power Christ gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?"

I have the feeling I'm going to spend the rest of my life working out the ramifications of that, but for sure I'm not going to let the evil of racism go down in my presence without at least calling it by its name.

Do you confront African Americans when they use the term in a derogatory manner towards each other? If not, why not? As for your other comments I have found that people are far more willing to listen when they aren't being railed at or berated because of their use of language. I highly doubt you are going to change many racists by berating their language. However I have witnessed more than a few make major changes in their lives and attitudes by building relationships with them.

 

[cantata]

Do you confront African Americans when they use the term in a derogatory manner towards each other?

Yes.

 

[sealacamp]

Anyways. I went down to visit my mom and realized something so weird to me.. My step dad took us to a waffle house and there was a black family in there. I'm use to being around other races but my step dad was slingging the "n" word around like it was nothing... Up here where I live if a white person would do that they would get jumped beat up or even killed! I never realized how down in the south they treated people so much different. In Ohio calling someone that would be unexceptionable. WOW!

I have been living in the south my whole life and what you describe here I have not seen in fifty plus years. Perhaps this is legitimate but it does not sound plausible to me at all. And please remember the N word is not relegated to any specific skin color since the definition of that word can accompany any skin color. Further more what race would that be just because the skin color is different? I would hope that we are all of the human race and that any other race would have to be from another planet.

Sealacamp