SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT?
August 5th, 2008, 11:33 am · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Lehr
This is sort of a (far more detailed, literate & respectful) follow up to CNN’s sojourn to Copperhill, Tennessee.
This week’s Newsweek takes a look at perceptions of Barack Obama in the south, & writer Christopher Dickey chose a path that’s the reverse of General Sherman’s march to see what folks think of the Democratic candidate:
“I found whites frustrated and indecisive about the campaign, families at odds, generations divided. Many who thought themselves beyond prejudice were surprised by their suspicions of the young black man from up north. Meanwhile, many slave-descended blacks, hugely supportive of the half-Kenyan, half-Kansan, Hawaii-reared Obama, seemed afraid to hope too much, inoculating themselves with pessimism about the chances that any man of color could win the presidency, even this man, even today, or that, if he does, he will survive. As I say, emotions are raw. “
Again, read more here, & then come back to discuss in the comment section!
UPDATE: An interesting quote from Publius, who writes for a blog called Obsidian Wings:
“I’m a child of the rural South. But you know what? Actual racism is a lot less common there — we have a ways to go, but there has been real progress on that front.
The more serious problem is white resentment. A lot of white people honestly think they have been significantly deprived of various things because of minorities. And it’s hard to overstate how deeply these feelings run. It’s not so much animosity toward people who are different — it’s the animosity of the aggrieved. They feel like they are the victims.
That’s why race is a losing issue for Obama — it’s not so much that people are racist, but that they feel they are being punished because they’re white (yes, I know how completely absurd this must sound to the black community).”
