ridiculous demonization of the American South

Really? I lived in Greensboro, NC in the early 2000's.

And guess what? I saw this *beep* happen. Not only that, but it's still amazingly segregated, as is a lot of the south.



http://us.imdb.com/name/nm2339870/

Or I could tell you about the time (also in '73) when I was getting gas in Vinita, OK while driving my Dad's '71 Cadillac (registered in his name which is similar to mine) back to Tulsa from Joplin, MO. Apparently because I had hair down to the middle of my back, one of Vinita's Finest busted me for vagrancy (I did have a purpose in being there--I was gassing up my Dad's car, remember?). I later found out that the fine for vagrancy is $96.42 which just so happened to be the amount of cash that I was booked into jail with.

Oh, well. I guess I was lucky that I wasn't riding a Harley and wearing a "Yankee Flag" on my back.

In 1972 I hitchhiked from Chicago to NYC in 2 days. Then I went down the east coast easily getting rides until I got to North Carolina. The cars went past me as they stared at my Charles Manson long hair in fear and whatever. I waited hours for rides in the south and often just started walking doing about twenty miles in a day. I was an 18 year old who had just finished high school and wanted to explore America as a vagabond. I had $300 in my pocket and often helped the people who picked me up pay for gas. In Greensboro, NC my ride dropped me off when they were turning where one interstate went into another. Cop picked me up and I spent two nights in the Greensboro jail for walking on the shoulder of the interstate highway. When I got out in the morning I took a bus back home to Chicago. A week later I hitchhiked west and had smooth sailing all the way to California. I live there today and have bad memories of the south.

The problem is not EVERYONE in the south is like the ones depicted in the movie. And southerners that are not like the ones in Easy Rider get very offended at being lumped into that category just because they're from the south. No one likes to be stereotyped!

But I can tell you with absolute certainty that in every small town in the south, you very well can be at the mercy of the opinions and whim of the local law enforcement. I have to think it's not just the south, but everywhere south of the Mason Dixon line and from east Texas to Florida - certain stereotypes still hold true, good as well as bad.

[deleted]

congrat, ranmel. Hands down the stupidest comment I have read this year.

the dudebert abides

I went to college in the south and the freshman dorm was very noisy except on the 2nd floor where the dorm mother lived. I therefore asked an Ethiopian exhange student if I could room with him and he said yes. I was then told that the last white kid to have a black roomate was met in the parking lot at night by the KKK. To me, wanting better grades and more sleep was worth it so I told them to bring it on. There was never a problem and we became great friends.

Years later, I moved to Dallas and went to the rec center to play basketball. There I met the most racist people I ever encountered - the southern black, who did not comprehend Dr. King's message and felt he was entitled to everything. I did not notice this among the blacks who played from the north or those that had been in the military. Hopefully Obama will change the feeling of entitlement and we can all live equally.

Rather a stupid thread, obvously, considering that the most charismatic and sympathetic character in the film was a Southerner. Also, if Billy and Wyatt's journey took them from, say, New York to Seattle rather than LA to NO, they'd have surely encountered an equal amount of hostility in the small towns in Montana or wherever, so it's not just a Southern thing.

QMan000, you wrote:
"I don't like Southern accents, my ancestors fought for the union, and I have black relatives. I don't really like the South but I do agree that intolerance can be found everywhere, the South just has a wider and longer history with such things."

Yes, intolerance can be found everywhere. Just read your own post.

I am from St. Louis (possibly the most racially polarized place in the country) and whenever I have been down South (always en route to a Florida vacation) it seems to me that whites and blacks co-exist and interact more easily than they do in the north. Also couldn't help but notice that there is no shortage of attractive African-American women in the south. There is something about them, a softness I'd call it, not found in black women up here.