America’s most scorned minority: ``simply Americans''

America’s Most Scorned Minority by Jerome E. Dobson

What’s the most scorned minority in America?  A partial list of candidates can be found in U. S. Census tables of races, origins, languages, and ancestries. 

To measure the level of scorn, consider the virulence of epithets and stereotypes applied to group members. Consider the extent to which society accords legal protections and benefits and, conversely, reprimands adversaries who openly discriminate, use racial or ethnic slurs, show bias in hiring, or commit acts of hatred.  Consider what people say about them and how they are portrayed in movies, television, and theater.

Which minority fares worst?

Which minority fares worst?  In this supposedly enlightened age, there is one that still can be routinely portrayed on TV as dim-witted and cruel. . .slandered with stereotypes so foul that all others pale by comparison. . .called by ethnic epithets. . .reviled by people who do not regard themselves as prejudiced and who are not regarded by others as being prejudiced. . .one that is clearly disadvantaged but receives no minority benefits and protections. . .one exempt somehow from America’s passion for diversity.

The answer, of course, is rural whites (hicks, bumpkins, yokels) and among them Southern whites (rednecks, bubbas, crackers, white trash) and among them Appalachian whites (hillbillies).  It’s somehow OK in polite conversation to call these fellow citizens derogatory names, characterize them as ignorant no matter how much schooling they’ve had, slander them with stereotypes, and make fun of their food and speech.

What is the most vile stereotype leveled at any minority in America?  Surely nothing matches incest.  Yet Appalachian people are routinely accused of incest, and there is no social rebuke for those who demonize them so.

Racism is not far behind.  Yet a popular columnist charged “bigotry in Appalachia” despite the fact that 80 % of West Virginia voters in the 2008 Democratic Primary said race was not a major factor.

The depth of bigotry against Appalachian people, my people, was brought home to me in a very personal way at a national meeting of an academic association.  A geographer delivered a fascinating analysis of the U. S. Census 2000, pointing out that Appalachian people typically identify themselves by “American ancestry” far more than any other group.  He showed strong geographic correlations with income, education, and religion.

When he finished, a colleague asked, “Did you try correlating that with incest?”  I was stunned, and so was my wife who, by the way, is not my sister or daughter.

The speaker answered, “I don’t think the government keeps figures on incest.”  No one else complained or even remarked on the questioner’s scurrilous, unsupported indictment of our relatives, friends, and neighbors back home.

I faced the offender and said, “What do you think would have happened if you had said that about any other group in this country?”

Insults hurt even those of us who succeed in the broader society.  For many others, the cost is greater as upward mobility is hampered by bias in hiring and promotion due to widespread disdain for cultural traits such as dialect, religion, and clothing.  Viewed with contempt even by many who champion other minorities, Appalachian people truly constitute a minority disadvantaged in status, income, education, wealth, power, health, and other key indicators of lifestyle and welfare.

All my life, I checked the box “American” for my ethnicity or stubbornly wrote “American” if there wasn’t a box for it, not knowing the choice was characteristic of my region.  I knew why I did it, and the speaker confirmed why so many Appalachian people do:  They have lived here so long that no one identifies with the places their ancestors, chiefly Scots-Irish, came from.  Most of all, as James Webb states so convincingly in Born Fighting, they hold a deeply ingrained egalitarian attitude that we’re all just Americans; it doesn’t matter where anyone came from.

So, there you have it.  The most scorned minority in America is people who call themselves simply “Americans.”  How ironic!

Jerome E. Dobson  is president of the American Geographical Society and professor of geography, University of Kansas

Comments

[Sunny Fry]

Did someone just notice this?

It's not new. Remember the murder case where the defense tried to make the argument that a DNA match didn't mean anything, because everyone in Conway was the result of inbreeding?

Maybe an auxillary branch of the NAACP -- the National Association for the Advancement of Appalachian People :-)

[Robert Meek]

I was born in Gary, IN. So was my late sister. Our late parents were born in Kalamazoo, & Battle Creek, MI. (Father, mother, respectively.) We were "Yankees" by birth. "Northerners."

We moved to the South (Charlotte, NC) in 1974, of our own free will, believing that the schools would be less violent for me to go to at that time. (They were less violent by a significant range of difference).

We ended up in a (Cleveland TN denomination) Church Of God, where the preacher bragged about how many "ex-Baptists" he had.

This enraged me.

My school (Baptists) taught that "people who spoke in tongues" were "demon possessed" and preached against "interracial marriage" - this enraged me.

I was now 17-18 years old.

I felt that we did not "belong" that we were not "welcome" in that church, and asked one of my peers.

He said: (A) you weren't always this denomination, (B) this church doesn't take too well to new people, and (C) you're Yankees.

"C" floored me. My jaw plum fell open.

"Well, it's not a virtue, but it's not a vice, either!" I said. "I can't help it, where I was born!" I added.

It was then, that I began to comprehend what a bigoted narrow-minded prejudiced attitude inflicted feels like.

As I've said in 2 other threads: racism goes all directions over all races & nationalities. When we finally admit that, and talk about racism, bigotry, prejudice, as A-D-U-L-T-S, that will be the day we can finally begin to lay some of this to rest.