If you look at how the USA has progressed, the south is STILL stuck in certain trends that affect current day society. It’s why they’re the bible belt, but states like Arizona and California aren’t reffered to as “the south”.
Geographically it makes no sense. California, Arizona, New Mexico, they’re all geographically south, but that’s not what that means.
And racism in the south is just so much more amplified than it is in other states. When you think about it, the 1860s are not THAT long ago in terms of societies.
I think we’re still being affected by actions from those times. A family experiences hardship. So they raise their kid to not trust those that caused it. And that kid grows up and does the same. Without a break in the chain, it just perpetuates more of the same.
So we’re only about 8 generations removed from that time. It’s really not that much. And OBVIOUSLY slavery is going to cause racism.
But what if the slaves were left on Africa, and the plantation owners just had automated drones that did all the work?
What would racism today look like?
Well, racism is not, unfortunately, either a recent invention or an exclusive ideology either. As an example, the stereotype of a drunk Irishman is a racist stereotype that was also common in America’s history. If you can define a group of people, chances are there is a stereotype about them.
The one that sticks in my head is “gypped” for getting screwed over is based on gypsies and is the equivalent of saying “jewed” for some other people. Either one is a racist stereotype, but I didn’t realize the first wasn’t just a common term until it was pointed out to me.
One that I didn’t know about was the pronounciation of “Arab”.
I’ve heard “air-ab” and I’ve heard “a-rab”. I thought they were both just different pronounciations. Turns out “a-rab” is offensive, and racist. I literally grew up being babysat as a kid by a family of arabs, and didn’t find this out until I was 28.
I have no memory of if I ever pronounced the word wrong around any of them, and now I cringe looking back. I must not have offended them. They always accepted me as one of their own.
That must depend on location, here in the UK it’s only ever pronounced a-rub (u is the the oo in foot)