A Chunk of Flesh - a GURPS RPG Diary

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Sam Cade

Amusing.

I'm from a small town in southern KY that had a total of ONE Chinese man in it.
We elected him mayor...after he retired as principal of the elementary school.

What few immigrants we had the town embraced, provided that they behaved according to the protestant work ethic and learned to speak passable English.

Yeah. As I noted, I think their concerns are exaggerated. That said, I could sorta understand his point of view. Why live in a place where you might have problems, when you can just as easily live in a place where it's almost certain you won't? Especially if those other places have more wealth and urban amenities that offer what is, to most of them, a better quality of life, anyway?

My experience as a kid in southeastern Kentucky has some similarities to what you mentioned. The town had one Asian person -- a Filipino girl who went to school at the local Catholic parish school, and lived in the convent during the school year.

As far as I know, she never had any trouble, although some of the black girls certainly did. It was a sunset town. When my mother was a little girl, it had signs and everything.

[Dogma75]

Your posts (Sam & tshiggins) gave me quite an insight view of the US. Thanks for that!

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Dogma75

Your posts (Sam & tshiggins) gave me quite an insight view of the US. Thanks for that!

Just a point of information, Dogma. The time I'm speaking of was the Kentucky of the early 1970s. While you can still find some small pockets of virulent racism, there, the culture of the state has progressed, in the past 40 years. The people, there, have less tolerance for those who don't try to fit into the communities than a lot of places (as Sam indicated), but most adopt a "live and let live" attitude.

[Dogma75]

just wanted to stop by and say that the thread is not dead but I have had a rough few days (last two weeks) and I didn't find the time to finish the first part. Hopefully I will do so on the weekend as we have a national holiday on monday!!!

[Weatherwax]

I'm a late-comer to this party, but as an American Southerner myself, I thought I'd add a few things.

Some places in the South do have a fair number of East Asian immigrants, and as an ESL teacher in the local community college, I see many of them. Most of the East Asians I see are Vietnamese or Montagnard (people from Vietnam who come from the mountains and are not ethnically Vietnamese), but I have had South Korean, Chinese, Cambodian, Burmese, and Japanese students before. The secretary for ESL at my college is Thai. One of my friends even married a Chinese woman. I've never seen an Indonesian, Laotian, or Malaysian person here, though. I don't think Marc Chong would have too many problems on the bus.

There is unfortunately still a lot of racism here, though. Many people don't like African Americans (which is the politically correct term for black, which is better than colored, which is less insulting than any iteration of the N-word) or Hispanics. However, as noted earlier, there is really little prejudice against Asians unless they're Muslim. I don't see a lot of Confederate flags here in my city, but if you go to any of the small towns nearby, you'll see a lot of them. Education level has a lot to do with it. Most educated people realize that the Confederate flag is in poor taste and offensive. I don't see a lot of Neo-Nazism in my city, thank goodness. Joline might encounter some racism, but she's used to it.

A few more details about John George Franklin: he probably goes by Johnny or another nickname, he probably has lots of tattoos (including swastikas and/or Confederate flags) either from prison or before he went to prison, he probably shaves his head (read "skinhead" from an earlier post), and he most likely drinks heavily and/or smokes marijuana. Other than that, he's right on the money. Unfortunately.

It sounds like a very cool campaign.

[Sam Cade]

Originally Posted by Weatherwax

Most educated people realize that the Confederate flag is in poor taste and offensive.

Most folks who display the Confederate Naval Jack (whether on their property or on their person) do so for reasons not related to any racist ideology and do not give a flying flapjack for the feeble feelings of fools.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Sam Cade

Most folks who display the Confederate Naval Jack (whether on their property or on their person) do so for reasons not related to any racist ideology and do not give a flying flapjack for the feeble feelings of fools.

Religious people who show the auspicious symbol of well-being on their temples or heads probably don't give a damn about the short mini-moustache guy either. Why should CNJ-flaggers should be treated worse for their symbol?

[Weatherwax]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Religious people who show the auspicious symbol of well-being on their temples or heads probably don't give a damn about the short mini-moustache guy either. Why should CNJ-flaggers should be treated worse for their symbol?

Well, I think that most people who display swastikas in any form do associate the symbol with the Nazis. Many Americans, at least, have no idea that the swastika and sauvastika go back thousands of years.

The Confederate flag issue is a bit more complicated. The message that people who display the flag want to send is, "i'm proud of my Southern heritage, and I believe in states' rights." However, the message received by African Americans is, "I am racist; I think [N-word, plural] are inferior to whites; and I want to go back to the days of slavery." Since I don't like to hurt anyone's feelings or offend anyone, I never display a Confederate flag in any form.

As a white Southerner myself, I find myself torn. I, of course, abhor slavery and believe the South was 100% in the wrong on that. I don't think any of my ancestors owned slaves (they were too poor), but I'm not certain. On the other hand, I believe that a people should have the right to stay or secede if they wish. So, in our Civil War, both sides had some right and both sides had some wrong.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Weatherwax

Well, I think that most people who display swastikas in any form do associate the symbol with the Nazis. Many Americans, at least, have no idea that the swastika and sauvastika go back thousands of years.

Really? Because I deliberately checked how it is represented in the wiki, and it's obviously not the Reich one (and the Sanskrit source comes as a fourth or fifth word in the article). Are you seriously saying that all that many people who are interested in politics enough to recognize the symbol at all, yet didn't ever even read the wiki or their history textbooks back at school?

[Sam Cade]

Originally Posted by Weatherwax

However, the message received by African Americans is, "I am racist;

My southern, Black , relatives would disagree.

It isn't wise to generalize.


http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-709533