4 ms·

the south is the blackest region in the country. ole miss, mentioned in this article, is located in mississippi, the blackest state in the union. more white? th

the south is the blackest region in the country. ole miss, mentioned in this article, is located in mississippi, the blackest state in the union. more white? that would be new england if you want that...i live in new england and the whiteness is unbearable. there is definitely an imbalance in the student bodies compared to the regions demographics. i don't think you were talking about that though, seems like you were just pointing to an entire region and saying, "everybody there is racist" which is what non-southerners tend to do.

afavour 2y ago
> ole miss, mentioned in this article, is located in mississippi, the blackest state in the union. But what about the demographics of Ole Miss itself? A quick google (by no means authoritive) shows it has a significantly lower proportion of black students than the state itself does. And Ole Miss does have a history of racist incidents… (not that others don’t!) I’m not saying black people shouldn’t study there but it’s a little more nuanced than “this college is in a state with lots of black people so it must be ideal”
- greenie_beans 2y ago
  nice attempt at a gotcha but if you read my comment i already noted that: > there is definitely an imbalance in the student bodies compared to the regions demographics. i went to ole miss so if you really want to debate about this... i don't have to do quick google searches... you can't find this in google: all of my black friends saw their enrollment at ole miss as a way to confront the racist history. regardless, this is beside the point of the original claim: move south if you want to be around more white people. simply untrue in the south. yes, the university itself is whiter than the general population (which is a condition created by the racist social structures in the south and perpetuated by the university), but a student still lives in the region. the university does not exist in a vacuum.
the_real_cher 2y ago
I like how you put that "the whiteness is unbearable" As a southerner who lived in Colorado for a while it's hard to describe exactly but I got that same feeling there.
eesmith 2y ago
I moved up north and was astonished at how invisible black people were. I went from living in a southern city, having black teachers, and black staff members, and black waiters, and black managers, to living in a midwestern city where there was a definite black part of town and the white part of down, and rarely did they mix. It felt more culturally segregated than anything I experienced in the south.
- aurareturn 2y ago
  That’s an interesting perspective. Thanks.

afavour 2y ago

> ole miss, mentioned in this article, is located in mississippi, the blackest state in the union. But what about the demographics of Ole Miss itself? A quick google (by no means authoritive) shows it has a significantly lower proportion of black students than the state itself does. And Ole Miss does have a history of racist incidents… (not that others don’t!) I’m not saying black people shouldn’t study there but it’s a little more nuanced than “this college is in a state with lots of black people so it must be ideal”

greenie_beans 2y ago
nice attempt at a gotcha but if you read my comment i already noted that: > there is definitely an imbalance in the student bodies compared to the regions demographics. i went to ole miss so if you really want to debate about this... i don't have to do quick google searches... you can't find this in google: all of my black friends saw their enrollment at ole miss as a way to confront the racist history. regardless, this is beside the point of the original claim: move south if you want to be around more white people. simply untrue in the south. yes, the university itself is whiter than the general population (which is a condition created by the racist social structures in the south and perpetuated by the university), but a student still lives in the region. the university does not exist in a vacuum.

the_real_cher 2y ago

I like how you put that "the whiteness is unbearable" As a southerner who lived in Colorado for a while it's hard to describe exactly but I got that same feeling there.

eesmith 2y ago

I moved up north and was astonished at how invisible black people were. I went from living in a southern city, having black teachers, and black staff members, and black waiters, and black managers, to living in a midwestern city where there was a definite black part of town and the white part of down, and rarely did they mix. It felt more culturally segregated than anything I experienced in the south.

aurareturn 2y ago
That’s an interesting perspective. Thanks.