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Very well. Item 1: the modern South is no more racist, on the whole, than any other part of the country. One thing you may not realize is that most black folks still live here in the South... we live, work and etc side-by-side these days. My home state is 1/3 Afr-Am by population. Interracial couples are common and harassment over that has largely ceased.
My mother is 80. She grew up during "seperate but equal". Last year my white son had a black girlfriend. My mom had no problem with it.
There are lots of minority owned businesses. I've had several bosses who were black. People down here, for the most part, don't care what color your skin is anymore; they're more intrested in your character and abilities.
Item 2: the Confederate battle flag is viewed, by the vast majority of white Southerners, as a symbol of regional pride, and of the South generally; not as a symbol of slavery, racism, or anything of that sort. Just as we choose to emphasize the postive aspects of our heritage (courtesy, hospitality, family, faith, decency, patriotism, self-reliance), many of us see the Stars-and-Bars as a symbol of the positive aspects of our heritage.
Many Southern blacks understand this. I've known a couple of them that fly it their self, and one older black man with a confederate flag on his truck.
Item 3: We're really, really tired of being the racial whipping-boy of the US. Perhaps the rest of you need to look at your own racism instead of projecting it onto us. We're getting along quite well, thanks.
BIG Thanks to Goshin for getting the point across like this.
Alot of the hubbub over the use of the confederate flag in the south isn't coming from "southerners" but from people who live in urban areas in the south (Miami, Atlanta, Charlotte, Tampa, etc) who came there for work after apparently the cost of living in the north or the lack of jobs in the north or the general ****ty living conditions drove them south to find jobs and financial security.
Being someone who has lived in both rural North Carolina and "urban" North Carolina I can tell you there is a HUGE difference in the attitudes of people.
Namely, the list that Goshin used... courtesy, hospitality, family, faith, decency, patriotism, self-reliance is intermittent in Charlotte where it was standard in the more rural and small town small city areas of the state that Ive lived in.