Race relations in SC

[upstate29650]

*If this topic (or one like it) exists, I give the mods free reign to combine this post with said topic.

There's a trial currently taking place in Gaffney, where 5 (or 4, I forget) white youths are accused of lynching a black teen. This trial's been getting national exposure, courtesy of Court TV.

One would like to think that as younger gernerations come, their tolerance for those different from themselves would grow. In the case of these teens, that appears not to be the case. On that note, as a state, what kind of progress is being made in race relations? Just to mix it up, what are race relations like in the different parts of the state?

[monsoon]

I think it is the other way around. The races are drifting further apart and are definately less integrated than they were in the 70s.

[goodbye]

These organizations (NAACP, ACLU, etc.) are doing more to separate than unify. Makes me sick, but I stay out of the debate because skin color is not an issue I care about. People use something that was once abused to get what they want today.

These boys were dead wrong in their actions!

[sonofaque86]

It does feel less integrated...I am an African American teen and lived in Columbia just about all my life...From Montessorri school to high school I've always gone to predominatley black schools and until I've gone to college this was the first time I actually was surrounded by people different than me...I mean, there's nothing wrong with that but it still seems different....This girl from Maryland she said as soon as she came to SC it seems like blacks and whites don't ever talk to each other or are always never seen together...And those 5 white dudes are wrong for that, its 2006

[teshadoh]

Overall I agree - yet somehow people are less racist. But I do feel people are less racially sensitive - particularly as more conservatives have now drifted further right wing neo-conservative. It is no longer politically correct to state any racist rhetoric, but it is fine being racially insensitive. Especially considering that groups like NAACP,individuals like Jesse Jackson are loudly criticized by Whites & labeled as instigators.

It seems the segregation era of the south for many has become our own 'holocaust', whom many deny it ever existed. Or at least was 'that bad'.

[monsoon]

It seems the segregation era of the south for many has become our own 'holocaust', whom many deny it ever existed. Or at least was 'that bad'.

I would say USA. Segregation was just as prevalent, if not more so, in the North than here in the South. There are plenty of people that deny it ever existed in the North and blame it all on the South. 30 years ago, I think there was more of an effort on everyone's part to try and get along and understand each other's side, but that has all disappeared for a number of different reasons.

[teshadoh]

Yes segregation did occur in the northeast - but it wasn't as prevalent as LATE as it was in the south nor as politically supported. There was more of a defacto segregation in the northeast, primarily in the newer Black settled urban areas. Otherwise there weren't many Blacks to segregate.

But that is off topic....

[monsoon]

Yes segregation did occur in the northeast - but it wasn't as prevalent as LATE as it was in the south nor as politically supported. There was more of a defacto segregation in the northeast, primarily in the newer Black settled urban areas. Otherwise there weren't many Blacks to segregate.

But that is off topic....

I disagree with you on that.

Cities such as Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia and St Louis are examples of where there was bigtime segregation and where the term "white flight" was invented.

When the schools were integrated in the early 70s. Most of the riots took place in these places.

[jack]

I disagree with you on that.

Cities such as Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia and St Louis are examples of where there was bigtime segregation and where the term "white flight" was invented.

When the schools were integrated in the early 70s. Most of the riots took place in these places.

I agree, the South was and is blamed for racism in the USA, but I believe that is because it was more blatent. the North was more subtle in rhetoric. The South has some of the most intergrated neighborhoods according to the census. I do believe that overall we are drifting apart while at the same time many of us are coming together.

It is unfortunately because race is used to seperate ourselves. I believe that people of similar socio-economic backgrounds are more alike then people of different classes but of the same race.

Like a famed UF economist said "I do not look at race for my research. A Black yuppie and a White yuppie both drive BMWs"

All of the upperclass people that I know that are Black and White act just alike with minor differences. But they pretend that they are different.

I apolgize if this posting is all over the place. I haven't finished my morning coffee

[teshadoh]

Then since we're on the subject - another major problem with race relations in the south is the pointing finger syndrome. "Everyone else does it - then why is everyone blaming us?" I think it's irrelevant if racism occurs or has occured elsewhere outside of the south - it's OUR problem & we should own up to it. But by suggesting there is equal blame, dillutes the problem & it becomes inconsequential to some because it is viewed as "not our problem".

As white southerners - since slavery, we have been incredibly defensive about everything we have done or not done. We are unable to own up to our problems because we want to think everyone else does it too. Whatever sin it is - it provides us some comfort knowing other people are as bad as us. Education, sprawl, bigotry, radical religous activism - we don't want to think we're alone. But even if we're not - the defense that "other people do it" should never be considered & is why we have always lagged behind the rest of the nation rather than actively tackling our problems.

[UrbanSoutherner]

I think the schools are perhaps the key. K-12 education is still extremely segregated in SC from what I have seen (and in much of the US for that matter). In the urban areas, you have mostly black intown schools and mostly white suburban schools. In the smaller communities (especially where you have a large black population), you have rather large private schools (the seg academies so to speak) where most of the white kids go. As long as the kids growing up are schooled apart (where they get most of their socialization), my guess is race will remain a BIG issue even if it is not spoken of in "polite company" as such.

I grew up in a majority-black county in SC, but I literally knew no African-Americans on any level worth mentioning. I went to a seg academy K-12, my church was all-white, and I just was in a rather segregated life (in the 1980s). When I went to USC, that changed. And living in Atlanta, likewise, I have had a more diverse life. But that de facto segregated world is still largely the reality in small town SC and even in the cities for many folks.

On the brighter side, I will say that I have seen a lot more residential desegregation occurring in SC over the past twenty years or so. The neighborhood where I grew up is actually rather mixed now (it was totally white when I was a kid). And the most interesting thing is that newcomers are both white and black (so white flight is not occurring). Positive change has happened, but it has happened over time and very slowly. As a student of southern history, it would be hard for me to overestimated the importance that race has played in the region's historical development (again, especially in the states like SC which have historically had relatively large black populations). It unfortunately takes a lot of effort and time to overcome all of that baggage.

[monsoon]

... As white southerners - since slavery, we have been incredibly defensive about everything we have done or not done. We are unable to own up to our problems because we want to think everyone else does it too. Whatever sin it is - it provides us some comfort knowing other people are as bad as us. Education, sprawl, bigotry, radical religous activism - we don't want to think we're alone. But even if we're not - the defense that "other people do it" should never be considered & is why we have always lagged behind the rest of the nation rather than actively tackling our problems.But even if we're not - the defense that "other people do it" should never be considered & is why we have always lagged behind the rest of the nation rather than actively tackling our problems.

Nobody has put forth here that as a defense of what has happened. But in the same token, when it is defined as a problem of White Southerners, it puts people immediately on the defensive and nothing gets done.

Racism, segregation, racial issues, etc and the problems associated with it are not a Southern problem, they are an American problem. Some of the potential solutions have to come from the Federal level, that is once people are willing to discuss it without throwing in regionalism.

[Spartan]

Nobody has put forth here that as a defense of what has happened. But in the same token, when it is defined as a problem of White Southerners, it puts people immediately on the defensive and nothing gets done.

Racism, segregation, racial issues, etc and the problems associated with it are not a Southern problem, they are an American problem. Some of the potential solutions have to come from the Federal level, that is once people are willing to discuss it without throwing in regionalism.

I think the problem is blaming it solely on white people. Certainly the case in Gaffney is their fault, but black people can be just as racist at times.

[Jerseyman4]

Why cant we just all get along?

On a more serious note, i was fortunate that where i grew up in NC, many people moved from allover the country (and canada too) so theres a big cultural and racial diversity in Pinehurst and immediate surrounding towns within the high school district. For Pinehurst being a small town, middle of nowhere and at least an hour away from a sizeable city, i think my town did very well for people getting along & accepting everyone elses differences. What i am leading up towards is that, ive noticed many small towns throughout the carolinas are very very segregated and some towns are even scary too. At our home football games, everyone, i mean everyone, sits together/talk together/eat together/cheer together/greet each other & everything. Everyone is mixed up, salt and peper and everything else in between. However, ill go to away games outside of the county and that will never be the case. Whites on one side, blacks on the other side. Will this ever change? Not right away and maybe not for a while. As long as the towns profile and its people is to never accept change, progression and diversity, history will continue to repeat itself over and over again.

And since i was 40 miles from the SC border, we had away games in several Pee Dee counties.

[jaxpalmer]

interesting thread. For the most part, ive found race relations in sc to be fairly good, compared to where i lived in bay area, california they are most certainly better. People in general in sc seem to be comming along as time goes on, the old attitudes are changing and this is a good thing. A big part of the south is embracing the past ive found, but alot of the past thats associated with the south isnt particularly nice to talk about and its refreshing to see people learning and moving on.

[krazeeboi]

I think most of the racial segregation in SC (as well as anywhere else) occurs in rural areas, although my small town educational experience was actually quite integrated. I was born and raised in Orangeburg County and attended elementary and middle school in Orangeburg, where the public schools beyond elementary school are practically all Black. However, when my family moved a few miles down the road to my mother's hometown (small town of Branchville; population ~1,000), the high school was about 50/50, which was something of a mini-cultural shock for me considering the schools that I had attended up to that point. I really experienced little racial tension there.

However, that's definitely not the case for all small towns in SC. I was especially surprised with the Christopher Pittman trial (a pre-teen/young teenager who was tried for killing his grandparents and setting the house on fire in Chester). When viewing a documentary about the case, it was said that after he fled the house, he ran into some hunters. He told the hunters that a Black man had kidnapped him or something to that effect. His story was so convincing to law enforcement officials that they actually began looking for a guy that fit the description, only to find holes in his story a little later on. Now, the Susan Smith episode was more understanding, as she was a middle-aged woman, but this guy was only a pre-teen/young teenager. Goes to show how some concepts still get ingrained in kids even in the 21st century.

Regarding segregation/integration, that's an area I plan to delve into in the recent future. The book The Failures of Integration: How Race and Class are Undermining the American Dream has given me a pretty good foundational understanding of how both race and class have historically shaped our cities' demographics. I fear that our cities may be following the path of European cities in which the central city becomes a playground for the rich, while the less well off (which tend to be disproportionally minority) are trapped in the suburbs. We need to let the recent events in Paris be a lesson for us.

[goodbye]

In this country, nothing keeps people from success but the individual himself/herself. Some of us must pull up our bootstraps and make it happen because no one is there to help. Others of us are able to ride the easy train to success. There is no less freedom of opportunity, but there are those who intentionally use such a stupid issue as skin color to keep some of us down.

[monsoon]

However, that's definitely not the case for all small towns in SC. I was especially surprised with the Christopher Pittman trial (a pre-teen/young teenager who was tried for killing his grandparents and setting the house on fire in Chester). When viewing a documentary about the case, it was said that after he fled the house, he ran into some hunters. He told the hunters that a Black man had kidnapped him or something to that effect. His story was so convincing to law enforcement officials that they actually began looking for a guy that fit the description, only to find holes in his story a little later on.

It should be noted that Christopher Pittman was a Florida native, not someone from SC. He was sent to Chester to stay with his grandparents (who were also not native to SC) because his parents could not deal with him. The local police correctly immediately began looking for the person who committed the crime as described by the only witness, but as you mentioned almost immediately realized his story didn't add up.

[krazeeboi]

^Thanks for the correction. But it's still wild that this guy, supposedly under the influence of anti-depressants, tried to pull something like this off.

[krazeeboi]

In this country, nothing keeps people from success but the individual himself/herself. Some of us must pull up our bootstraps and make it happen because no one is there to help. Others of us are able to ride the easy train to success. There is no less freedom of opportunity, but there are those who intentionally use such a stupid issue as skin color to keep some of us down.

I say make it happen for yourself while at the same time pointing out the inequities in the system (and they still exist--not as much as they used to, thank God) and working for change so that those who come after you will be able to have it just a bit easier.

[waccamatt]

If you work in the business world and have your eyes open you know that there is still racism, sexism and homophobia occuring everyday in this country. I do believe that if you do a good job you can get ahead, regardless of your background, but it is truthfully more difficulty if you are a minority. Some don't believe that, but I have witnessed it first hand.

[goodbye]

I believe that by continually pointing it out, we begin to look for racism in everything, thus stirring up the ones who think they're being abused, when they simply need to shut their mouths, get off their lazy butts, and make a decent life for themselves. So much time is spent demanding "equality" when we should all be gladly working side-by-side in a free land, where anyone can make his or her own small fortune without government help, save for the truly disabled.

[krazeeboi]

I believe that by continually pointing it out, we begin to look for racism in everything, thus stirring up the ones who think they're being abused, when they simply need to shut their mouths, get off their lazy butts, and make a decent life for themselves.

I strongly disagree. You justify inequality by shutting up and letting it pass like it's OK. Perhaps you don't know what that's like, but I do. I do not believe that this is equivalent to seeing inequality in every situation in which you don't get your way.

[waccamatt]

I strongly disagree. You justify inequality by shutting up and letting it pass like it's OK. Perhaps you don't know what that's like, but I do. I do not believe that this is equivalent to seeing inequality in every situation in which you don't get your way.

I agree with Krazee. I don't advocate always complaining if you don't get a promotion, etc., but when you hear or see blatantly racist things you have to take a stand.

[upstate29650]

Read this & tell me what you think

College administrator in a flap over racial comment

She claims she didn't know the term she used was a racial slur. Uh-huh.