this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2023
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It shocked me the first time I met a real anti-Semite, in real life, in Tennessee. I've worked in a lot of places all over the world and I've seen plenty of racism. No one else topped that guy in Tennessee. Other places racism was mostly contained to 'they stay over there and we stay over here.' Tons of problems but living together but apart was possible. That doesn't speak to every experience obviously. That old guy in Tennessee wanted another Holocaust, plain and simple. Anywhere else he'd get the shit kicked out of him, there it was tolerated.
Had someone try to sell me on the merits of the Ku Klux Klan while working at a factory in Tennessee, I was a staunch Libertarian at the time so i guess he thought i might bite, he told me how they helped the community out and kept people safe.... the guy was dead fucking serious, and when I asked him about them being racist he just changed the subject... Still feels like a fever dream...
To show how pervasive the racist Southerner stereotype is: I was in Hawaii and met a guy from New Zealand. He noticed my accent and asked where I'm from and this happened:
ME: I'm from North Carolina
HIM: Oh really? Cool! Hey, whaddya call a n****r with a new bicycle?
I guess that's his version of Americans saying "g'day mate!"
What happened next? Was he mocking you or telling a joke that he thought you would enjoy?
What a strange encounter
He thought I would enjoy it. It was a crowded spot, so I just stared disppointedly at him and walked away.
I suspect the NZ bloke was racist and immediately linked all Southern Americans with racism, so felt comfortable opening up.
Ngl as a non-american if I met a dude in a bar and he's was from 'the south' especially Texas or Florida I would be sitting there expecting some kind of anti-'woke', anti-minority, anti-women, anti-brown comment eventually. At least until I had sussed him out for a bit
Can confirm. I'm a 6'4 big bearded mountain looking fucker in the Bible belt, and people REGULARLY think "he agrees with me about this painfully mundane thing so surely he agrees with me that trans people need to shut up and dress appropriately (or whatever)" They'll often be saying the quiet part to me out loud within 5 minutes of shooting the bull with a total stranger.
such an odd thing to do.
Are your cows cute? I would like to pet your cows.
All cows are cute
I drove through Alabama once. That was enough. What a shit stain state? Experience the racism there, even if sort of second hand, was surreal. Sucks I know some people that were forced to move there.