Is Southern Pride Only for White People?
The current racial climate often makes it uncomfortable for me to reclaim my roots
I was able to keep my face a neutral mask when a young White woman recently described her upcoming plantation wedding to me.
I was attending a gala dinner where an acquaintance and his fiancee excitedly relayed their plans to get married at a “beautiful, old-time” plantation in the South. The bride-to-be’s eyes lit up as she remembered the Spanish moss hanging from the trees lining a red dirt path to a grand white mansion.
“It’s going to be the wedding of my dreams,” she cooed. “That big white house is just incredible.”
With great effort, I kept a calm, mild expression on my face while on the inside I thought of the slaves — my ancestors — who had toiled and died there. I instinctively knew it had never once crossed this woman’s mind where the financial capital came from to build that estate, nor what had happened in the fields and cabins surrounding the big house. Where she saw a gorgeous wedding setting, I saw a reservoir of inhumanity, pain, and suffering.
For many years, my small-town Southerness has been a cherished part of my identity, an anchor I cling to whenever I get homesick or question the mostly career-driven life choices…
