Can we talk about something?
There’s been a lot of discussion regarding the Southern U.S. recently, and a lot of it is rooted in ignorance. Much of it willful, but I like to give the benefit of the doubt until shown otherwise. And I’ve been seeing a lot of otherwise.
When you say the South is just a bunch of racist conservatives, when you say the people there can choke, when you say “secede” or that we should “segregate the South,” when you say you hope every last Southerner dies of Covid, when you tell women and poc to “just move,” when you say “well you voted for the people making the laws,” you are completely erasing the huge proportions of marginalized people living there and their history. The South is so much more diverse than y’all want to admit.
The South fought for slavery. When slaves were “freed” (in quotes bc that’s a complex topic and they were not functionally free), where do you think they went? Disappeared? Teleported to the North? Moved away and bought homes with all the no money they had? Many of them started/continued families right where they were, and guess what? They still exist.
Not to mention the border and Central America are RIGHT THERE. Where do you think immigrants and people seeking asylum go?
And let’s talk queers. The South has the HIGHEST percentage of LGBTQ+ people in the nation -
- and the most anti-LGBTQ+ systems.
People on twitter are saying no one in the South protests anything other than the mask mandate or vaccines or Trump losing the election. But the South has a rich history of activism, dating back to the Civil Rights movement and continuing on today (yes, this exact day you’re reading this), specifically BECAUSE of how horrible and oppressive the systems are there. We speak up because we have to.
I grew up in Texas, and there was a protest on the capitol steps weekly. Not to mention state-wide protests that originated in one city and rippled out. (And do you think the South opts out of nationwide protests like the Women’s March and BLM??) Here are some of my favorites: [Cocks Not Glocks; Trans Bathroom Bill Rainbow Toilets; Abortion Law Protests; 2016 Trump Protests, etc., etc., Google for more.] I’ve been to the rallies, I’ve held the signs, I’ve spoken at events. Don’t tell me they don’t exist.
The South has a potent history of activism as a response to racism, sexism, queerphobia, ableism, anti-immigrant laws, voter suppression & gerrymandering, and every other hateful policy, system, and legislation under the sun. Every time an unjust bill is passed, every day that goes by without reformation, people DO speak up. People ARE fighting, are SHOUTING at the top of their lungs every day. You just refuse to listen. Because that would mean acknowledging the existence of people you’d like to pretend people aren’t still actively harmed by these systems you claim to be against.
Say it with me: oppressed people are not responsible for the systems that oppress them.
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