Southern Self-Hatred is VERY Real
Brain-drain in the South isn't just economic, it's cultural. Many young Southerners - particularly Whites - look down on their roots and often don't identify with them unless coming to terms with them later in life. Either because they can't get with the bigotry inherent in these communities or because Southern rural living is often talked down to by others or in popular media, young Whites leave the South behind and abandon their culture in droves.
I left for reasons similar to the ones I listed above. Eventually I reconciled myself to it and gave myself the obvious truth: that Southern history is not confined to a single five-year period, and it would be ludicrous to boil down a two hundred year-old culture to racism and prejudice alone. Just like any culture it has positive and negative components and it falls to us as its inheritors to maintain it as a gardener keeps an orchard: to prune the corrupted growth and nurture the clean branches.
I encourage any American to get in touch with and embrace their cultural roots not just abroad but in this country, whether that's rural Alabama, urban Los Angeles, the heights of New York or the bright lights of Nashville. Learn to find the rhythm in yourself that vibes with these places. Don't be afraid to take what you find good in other States or nations with you, too. After all, isn't that where all of this culture we have now came from?
