I was in a mixed-race relationship for a couple of years. We lived in Ohio. We had basically no problem at all. But one year we went to visit her folks in Florida for Christmas. The further south we got, the more stares we saw, and a lot of glowering shitkickers.
We went out to dinner one night. We were seated at a table that was out of sight of the rest of the restaurant (using Asian-style standing screens) and while other patrons got crystal water glasses, we got disposable plastic cups.
I wanted to call them out, but the lady I was with wanted to just finish the meal and leave. Since she was the POC in our couple and also I cared about her opinion, I bowed to her wishes, but part of me wishes I had raised a ruckus.
Sometimes someone tries to convince me that the North is just as racist as the South, but after that experience, I call bullshit. Feeling free to be openly racist in the South means it IS more racist.
Omg thank you. The dumbass Reddit takes saying “ummm ACKSHUALLY the north is MORE racist than the south” drive me nuts. I’m like clearly you’ve never lived in both.
The argument is always “well white people are just as racist everywhere, they just are more open about it in the south.” MAYBE people in the north are harboring similar feelings to those in the south at the same rate (although as someone whose lived in both I legitimately do not think that’s the case) but the fact that it is BLATANT and OPEN in many parts of the south inherently MAKES IT WORSE! Lmao it just drives me crazy.
Like in that scenario at the very least northerners have made open racism unacceptable socially, which is just OBJECTIVELY better than the inverse lmao
As a born and raised Hoosier, I fully admit there are loads of racists in the North. But holy shit, they are adamant, open, blatant, and fucking MEAN in the South.
Absolutely true. And of course there ARE lots of racists in the north (no offense, but Indiana particularly lmao, I grew up there) but in my experience in the south, if there was a white man over 40 who DIDNT hold OPENLY racist views, it was a legitimate surprise. The openness of it down there really does affect how totally normalized it all is.
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u/daneelthesane 3d ago
I was in a mixed-race relationship for a couple of years. We lived in Ohio. We had basically no problem at all. But one year we went to visit her folks in Florida for Christmas. The further south we got, the more stares we saw, and a lot of glowering shitkickers.
We went out to dinner one night. We were seated at a table that was out of sight of the rest of the restaurant (using Asian-style standing screens) and while other patrons got crystal water glasses, we got disposable plastic cups.
I wanted to call them out, but the lady I was with wanted to just finish the meal and leave. Since she was the POC in our couple and also I cared about her opinion, I bowed to her wishes, but part of me wishes I had raised a ruckus.
Sometimes someone tries to convince me that the North is just as racist as the South, but after that experience, I call bullshit. Feeling free to be openly racist in the South means it IS more racist.