8 Comments

1. 

   @DariceDavisjprocks94

   December 11, 2023 at 2:18 am

   Chris: at 41:46 you mention New Orleans, LA as an example of racial progress post-reconstruction: That's real news to me as a first generation of 5 generations born in Louisiana.

   Louisiana is like no other state in the nation for a number of reasons beginning with it's legal system is based in French law; not English law like other states.
   Second, the South, as a region has put it's stamp, so to speak, on the country more, I believe, than any other region. It's a huge area of the country, for one thing especially when you take into account it's boarder states. Besides the food, the view of the rest of the country, and the other tribal attitudes (nepotism, distrust of "foreigners" which blossomed after the carpetbagger era following the Civil War, but which I attribute to the regional, deep seated fears of being judged due to the white society's pattern of human rights violations (slavery). What I mean by this is that there is an inbred paranoia at the core of the Southern point of view. Some have it more than others; some are recovered from it. That paranoia stems from fear of retaliation for racist conduct, and fears of being enslaved. All that emotional baggage is twisted around, and projected on Blacks. It is the basis for unprovoked suspiciousness toward Blacks. We also see it today in police officers' reports that they were prompted to shoot a Black because they feared for their lives. The only way you can account for this unprovoked "fear" is if you share this peculiar mental twist, or you understand the paranoia that is infused into racial attitudes and beliefs in America as I try to explain it here.
   As to Appalachian liberalism — that's kind of an oxymoron because it's generally a very, very poor region. Inclusivity, liberal attitudes generally are luxuries not found where severe survival stressors exist (economic, lack of social mobility, ineffective schools, etc.) Further, politicians, preachers, and other leaders convince these people they are of value because at least they aren't Blacks. It's a form of social control to maintain power. It's most venal and cruel expression is found in the segregationist U.S. Senators (Bird, Strom Thurmond, etc.) that Mitch McConnell is patterned after.
   I could go on and on.
   Thanks for having these authors on the podcast. I know it was difficult to hear their analysis. Geography is one of many physical features of the environment that is determinative in human behavior. In the South it is singularly important because of its role in slavery, and because of its role in the Civil War, and afterwards.

   Reply
2. 

   @DariceDavisjprocks94

   December 11, 2023 at 2:18 am

   Chris: It's not about the power the institution of slavery has on our history; that puts the blame on the institution and by extension, on Black folks caught in it's tangle. The toxic power that endures in America, our cultural cancer, is esconced in the need generations of white Americans have nurtured and passed down in their families and communities, for self-worth and self-esteem based on competitive comparison to a group held in an inferior rank. That's the problem. And when — I'm hopeful — white folks as a group take their feet off Blacks necks and go and do the personal work to grow into and mature with their self-esteem — that's when slavery will end. Those who enslaved humans in America have been sentenced to an unrecognized emotional prison that only letting go of need to keep others down can cure.

   Reply
3. 

   @cecilyhorton7137

   December 11, 2023 at 2:18 am

   I spent a lot of time with my grandfather who spoke often of his grandfather, who was born in 1827. We are only one voice from antebellum America.

   Reply
4. 

   @reveranttangent1771

   December 11, 2023 at 2:18 am

   Keeping in mind that america came from the uk, and the uk did not abolish slavery for 57 years after we left them. That being said, yes, cultures change slowly.

   Reply
5. 

   @verydryzen1727

   December 11, 2023 at 2:18 am

   Darn you, glaciers!! Where's my time machine…

   Reply
6. 

   @columbusbrooks4517

   December 11, 2023 at 2:18 am

   Great show, got my egg

   Reply
7. 

   @texasgentleman3662

   December 11, 2023 at 2:18 am

   Public housing wasn't implemented for black families but for the poor white.. So was welfare.. When the black families applied for these services if the woman was married and the father was present,,he had to leave or she didn't qualify for the services,,didn't apply to married white couples…

   Reply
8. 

   @bongofury5924

   December 11, 2023 at 2:18 am

   “How we think that supplying public housing for the black population of our country for decades WOULDN’T have a detrimental effect on the psyche and soul of an entire people who now believe they cannot work and succeed, and therefore feel they don’t have any goals to even TRY to attain. Being on the Democratic government teet is a insidious thing that sucks life out of a people”.

   The answer is to wake up, my slumberers….

   Reply

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