Dare to Ask: Are Northern whites actually less accepting of blacks?

By Phillip J. Milano

The Florida Times-Union

Question

I’ve noticed Southern whites tend to be more accepting of blacks than Northern whites. Why? — Melissa, 22, white, Montgomery, Ala.

Replies

To suggest that Southern whites, with their history of segregation, lynchings and white supremacist groups, are more accepting of blacks is ridiculous. — Rick, white, Ohio

I confess I’ve never participated in a lynching or a racist group. I did, however, work with blacks every summer growing up. I got along with blacks because if you treat them with respect they treat you likewise. — Jack, 56, white, Suwanee, Ga.

I think many Southerners have more real-world contact with black folks. Northern whites have read about blacks and “had a black friend once,” but never interacted with them. Also, there is more shared history between blacks and whites in the South (often poor history, admittedly), and they seem to understand each other better. — Gregory, 23, black, New York

A few years ago I went to the Northeast to visit family members I’d never met. They made fun of blacks’ appearances, and one family member complained there was nothing but “a bunch of black people in Atlanta.” I’ve been to a lot of small Southern towns but haven’t met someone as racist as many Yankees I met on that trip. — Halley, Atlanta

Expert says

There’s a likefest goin’ on down here? Say it’s so!

The idea of Southern whites being more accepting of blacks is based on “a good bit of myth and a bit of reality,” said Emory University history professor Joseph Crespino, author of “In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution.”

In the antebellum South, slavery advocates said the capitalist system of wage labor was inhumane, and that slavery was much better.

“It was based on a paternalistic system of the masters wanting to take care of their slaves instead of them being in the 'cold, heartless’ capitalistic system,” he said.

By Jim Crow, segregationists were saying that while Northerners appreciated blacks in the abstract, they didn’t like them personally, while Southerners didn’t like blacks in the abstract, but loved individual blacks.

“There’s a long history of white Southerners saying they have more day-to-day exposure with blacks, and therefore have better relationships,” said Crespino, who grew up in Mississippi.

It is true, though, that some of the most segregated areas of the U.S. now are the large, declining industrial cities of the Midwest, while places in the Sunbelt “like Jacksonville and Atlanta have seen a more prosperous black middle class more integrated into the lifeblood of the community,” Crespino said.

While residential segregation still is in full bloom in these areas, “the races can have more of a kind of contact and equal footing, more so in the workplace,” he said. “And that can lend itself to more meaningful relationships.”

Phillip Milano, author of I Can't Believe You Asked That! (Perigee), moderates cross-cultural dialogue at Y? The National Forum on People's Differences. Visit www.yforum.com to submit questions and answers. Send general column comments to phillip. milano@jacksonville.com. You can also hear his podcasts or watch his TV spots.