One of the things about our family is that we've spent the majority of time on the West Coast. While very diverse in many ways, the socialization that takes place on West Coast lacks any serious education and understanding of historical and racial dynamics of the south. We tend to think we are things such as "modern" and "progressive," particularly in relation to issues that involve social inequality--especially racism. Our own sense of history in this nation does not go back that far. Perhaps because our territories were the last colonized and there was a rush to hide the traces of the brutal American Indian genocide so near in both location and time. There was a rush to begin engineering the social construction of reality that would socialize people to be more focused on the future and less interested in the past.
The West Coast, Pacific Northwest more specifically, had no established history in the books and was not able to claim a discussion on its role in the Civil War. The larger message channeled through our socialization was that the history of racism was something not applicable to us in the Pacific Northwest and any racism that is seriously problematic in current times is in the South. Hate groups and individual acts of hate represent isolated troubled outliers that are entirely separate from the mainstream integrated communities and larger society. The Pacific Northwest is composed of a bizarre contradiction where hyper-modernity is an integral part of the collective psychology of the people--populations that are deeply nestled in the geographical areas that were last colonized in this nation and proud of the surrounding lush green virgin forests and rustic landscapes. While ignoring the brutal history of the area, the states celebrate the few Native American Indian groups still barely in existence that brings a sense of direct connection with the romanticized version of U.S. and local history. The lack of honest connection with the larger U.S. history has left the Pacific Northwest socially anemic and malnourished, and grossly historically inept.
While having Black friends back home who were born and raised on the West Coast and being tapped into various aspects of Black popular culture, we had a fundamental disconnect of Black culture in the south--part of that disconnect is also a reflection of the socio-cultural gaps between regions. The stereotypes on the south played a significant role in fueling an "us" and "them" mentality between regions both within and between racial/ethnic groups coupled with this conception that we were so "modern" and the south was stuck back in time. It wasn't until we had spent some time in Texas that our previously taken-for-granted viewpoints and understandings of the world began to be challenged in various ways through our many new experiences.
Spending a few years in Texas led to new racialized and cultural experiences, with class perhaps being the most significant factor in those experiences. Everything from new foods and spices to the different contours of private and professional relationships. One of our significant experiences involved our new extended family members who reside in the poor Black community. Their roots go directly back to slavery here in Texas and most family members across the generations have not been outside a 50 mile radius from where their earliest ancestors that survive in their collective memories had began to raise their own families independently after slavery was abolished. Our grandchild down here in Texas is only 5 generations away from slavery. Their culture, value, and foods, have been well preserved partially by SES and partially by keeping their collective memories as related to their own racialized experiences as related to slavery and Jim Crow alive--it's an active process of transmitting culture and familial education as related to oppression from one generation to the next.
One evening our extended family had us over for a traditional Black southern supper and traditional familial entertainment that involved music (artists such as BB King), sharing memorable stories, and freestyle rapping among the younger family members. The elder women walked us through how they cook the foods and shared some various cooking tips. The foods consisted of red beans and white rice, home made corn bread, collard greens, chitlins, and some meats. While we indulged in all the foods but the chitlins, the foods were a new experience. But what amplified our new experiences was that the meal was hosted with the traditional Black southern culture. Eating these foods for the first time at a local restaurant for example would not have given us even a remote understanding of the histories and meanings associated with these foods. It was a very memorable experience that deepened our respect for Blacks in the south and their historical struggles unique to their group within this nation. The several years we have spent with this family and others have led us to realize how far ahead of time the southern Black community is--a phenomenon that defies the so-called "modernity" we are socialized with on the West Coast, regardless of racial and ethic group.
One day our son-in-law were talking about interracial relationships and the experiences in the South. We were also talking about the rarity of white men dating Black women in contrast to Black men dating white women. He began laughing and just shook his head and went on to show me the following parody song sung by a local DJ that had been playing on a local radio station in Texas:
As I watched many things went through my mind--most of which, this is something you would not see on the West Coast for many reasons. But I was also thinking of how different things are down here. In some ways the humor was a bit challenging, though reminded me that it may be due to the fact that we're from a different generation. And regardless of how we might analyze this video, it is a reflection of how much more open and direct people are in addressing race related issues in the south, in contrast to the West Coast that is dominated by the racist colorblind ideology. So as we ponder on these issues and this video, we ponder on the question of whether or not this video is a direct reflection of how far advanced "the south" is in terms of addressing racial issues in contrast to other regions in the U.S.
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