Southern Inferiority?

Some years ago, my college at Kennesaw State University hired a dean who came from up north.  From the moment he arrived, he was determined to shake us out of our backward ways and drag us kicking and screaming into the modern era.  He would, in his view, eradicate our bigotry and make us more like his ideal.

This man is now gone.  Having alienated too many of his colleagues—including transplanted northerners like myself—his position became untenable.  Less tolerant of diversity than his southern born underlings, he was not the paragon of virtue he supposed.

My wife and I (she also teaches at KSU) have now encountered the same sort of attitude in the Sothern Sociological Society.  This organization, which was founded in the South and has routinely held its annual meetings in Atlanta, recently decided that the South is no long a congenial venue.

When the Georgia legislature passed bills protecting the freedom of religion, these sociologists were outraged.  They perceived these statutes as homophobic.  The president and board quickly declared that the organization would never again schedule a meeting in the state.

The organization’s leadership did not explain why the legislation was objectionable.  They did not even describe what was in the legislation.  Nor was an attempt made to poll the membership to determine what it felt.  The decision was summarily made—and that was that.

As it happens, Atlanta is one of the most gay friendly cities in the nation.  Evidently the folks at the SSS did not know that.  Many were born and raised in the north.  Now several are again living in the North, and like KSU’s former dean, are determined to rescue their former colleagues.

My wife and I were outraged.  I have lived in Georgia for more than a quarter century and therefore have learned that this is one of the most civilized sections of the nation.  Not only are Georgians more tolerant than some carpetbaggers imagine, but they are more kind-hearted.

Too many Northerners have only a media-driven acquaintance with the South.  They do not know that the Cherokee county in which I live is in some ways more cosmopolitan than New York City.  Mislead by portrayals rooted in a bygone era, they never take the time to reeducate themselves.

Thus, whenever I go shopping, I am reminded of how courteous most of my neighbors are.  I enjoy my pleasant little chats with the checkout personnel and fellow customers.  This is so different from the rudeness that I experienced when living in Manhattan. 

Whenever I am in a classroom at KSU, I am similarly reminded about how accepting my students are of each other.  They come from every quarter of the country and are of all races, yet they are friendly and open-minded.  There is none of the meanness that unenlightened Yankees expect.

Atlanta truly is the capital of the New South and its exurbs truly are pioneering what America may eventually become.  What I see around me is a combination of modernity and the gentility of years gone by.  People are plugged in to what is happening around the world at the same time that they are considerate of the folks next door.

Once I too had a stereotypical view of the South.  When the New York Times described Southerners as uncouth louts, I assumed that this was accurate reporting.  Well, the New York Times is still at it, but experience has taught me the error of its ways.  I now love the South.

No doubt there are more lessons to be learned.  No doubt pockets of ignorance and nastiness remain.  But these exist everywhere.  The bottom line is that the South no longer has a reason to feel inferior—nor the North superior. 

We are together in the process of building a new world.  But that requires mutual acceptance and accurate understanding.  Too bad that these are often lacking.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University