kbm: Read faulkner. The south is a great place to live for all peoples. I wouldn't call all of Faulkner's vision of the south exactly cheery . Quite a bit of disfunctionality in Faulkner! ------------------ A few years back on the Senate floor... Phil Gramm: "If Democrats could, they'd tax the air we breathe." Ted Kennedy (jumping up): "By God, why didn't I think of that sooner!" Boston College - NCAA Hockey National Champions 2001
Exactly, haven. Faulkner explained the South quite well, I'm afraid (and I grew up there). Dysfunction Junction. That's OK; otherwise I wouldn't have near so many interesting stories to tell... ------------------ Isabel,clutchcity.net lurker since 1996 We are the girls from Norfolk. We don't smoke. We don't drink. Norfolk! Norfolk!
I talked to a black buddy who used to live in Charlotte and he was surprised that Charlotte made it on that list. He said the nightlife in C-town blew ------------------ "We make more, but we spend more." Patrick Ewing
vj: From the 2000 Census: Non-Hispanic whites remain the majority, but their share of the population dropped to 69% from 76% in 1990. Hispanics of any race now make up 12.5% of the population. The racial breakdown of other non-Hispanics: blacks 12.1%, Asians 3.6%, American Indians 0.7%, Native Hawaiians 0.1% and some other race 0.2%. ------------------ "You sanctimonious philistines, who scoff at me!"
Haven, Clearly you haven't read enough Faulkner to know what I'm talking about, so I'll clue you in. First of all, the idea of an oppressive relationship in the South where white plantation owners rule as brutal taskmasters over the ignorant black slaves is totally debunked by faulkner in such novels as Intruder in the Dust . This is the novel, if you remember, where Chick Mallison fell into an ice-covered creek only to be saved by Lucas Beauchamp, a black man. Finding his world juxtaposed after being saved by Lucas, Chick insisted upon repaying Lucas back for his act of "generosity," but instead learned that Lucas wouldn't accept anything in return. By refusing payment, Lucas forced Chick to accept him on a level Chick was not willing to concede--the level of his own white kinsman. What follows after that is nothing less than a total breakdown of chick's understanding of how black folk act towards white folk in the South. Now then, Chick's adolescent response to Lucas is much like madmax's relpy in this thread--that there is no meaningfull relationship of blacks to whites in the South or at least a poorer relationship than the comparable places in the North. Faulkner shows us, however, that there was a much more subtle relationship, unseen by most, in which blacks become equal, if not superior, to whites in many respects. In The Unvanquished to cite another example, young Bayard Sartois has a complex about his intelligence as compared to Ringo's, his black boyhood friend. He tells us that he knows he is not as smart as Ringo and has also noticed that his father recognizes the same. This kind of acknowledgement would not have been found anywhere but in a Faulkner novel at that time. In fact, the film Birth of a Nation is the more typical portrayal of blacks in the South. In addition, you are totally missing the point with the disfunctionality angle. What does that have to do with the preception of blacks being treated poorly in the South? In a word, nothing. You also have a usage problem in your statement "I wouldn't call all of Faulkner's vision of the South exactly cheery. Quite a bit of disfunctionality in Faulkner!" It implies that Faulker had a plan of disfunctionality for the South that he wished to achieve sometime in the future. I take it you really meant to say that Faulkner's description of the South had quite a bit of disfunctionality in it. But of course you knew that already I'm sure being that you are a Faulkner expert. A word of caution Haven. Maybe you yourself should take a clue from Chick Mallison and not be so quick to make such an ignorant comment unless you are willing to back up your words with at least some kind of proof. I can only assume that you are either full of yourself and your knowledge or you don't respect the poster on the other end. ------------------ I am an invisible man. [This message has been edited by kbm (edited June 10, 2001).]
