In her March 11 piece, Harvard Crimson columnist Madison Johnson wrote of her frustrations with the stigmatization of “the South” perpetuated by her Harvard classmates.
She argued that the oversimplification of the South as backward both ignores the problematic histories of other places within the United States while also ignoring the contributions of the South through the process of “othering” the region.
Based on the experiences of this board, we know many UNC students carry the same perception of the South as fundamentally flawed and eagerly await a chance to relocate.
The reasons for these feelings are not necessarily unfounded. Growing poverty, regressive voting rights legislation and attempts to legalize discrimination against the LGBTQ community provide frustrating evidence of our difficult cultural climate.
Even more influential than these political actions are students’ experiences navigating family or community cultures that do not respect their identities or interests. Yet this board agrees with Johnson’s sentiments and cautions against an overstated sense of shame about where we come from.
“Southern pride” is often bound up in problematic imagery of the Confederate flag and tones of white supremacy.
But it needn’t be. We argue for a radical reframing of the idea of what is remembered when we consider the history of the South. Just as the Real Silent Sam movement aims to contextualize the racist history of the University, we must also remember the positive contributions of so many who have inhabited this space, and must complicate this North vs. South dichotomy in regard to inclusivity.
The South was the home of William Saunders and Jesse Helms, but it was also the home of Ella Baker and Floyd McKissick Sr., one of the first black law students at UNC.
The history of “white flight” into Northern suburbs during desegregation and recent police violence call into question notions of a post-racial North.
