Living in the South comes with the insufferable biases from outsider judgement. Too often do we see the overgeneralization that the South is the root of all problems in America. The South is the birthplace of uneducated bigots. But the reality is that the South is a lot more diverse than that, and boxing every single individual in the South as worthless brushes aside bigger problems that the nation is facing. 

There are varying definitions of what is considered “the South,” and it largely depends on where you live in the country. For the entirety of this column, we will be referring to the Bible Belt as “the South.” The Bible Belt has a heavy Protestant influence and is considered to be between Virginia, Georgia, Texas and Missouri. 

Southern culture is heavily stereotyped. Even Southerners fall into the pit traps of labeling the South as: 

• The only place where everyone culturally drives pickup trucks

• The only place that’s openly racist in the United States

• The only place where everyone’s Republican and uneducated 

• The only place that has staunch gun rights supporters 

Not everyone in the South is the carbon copy of a white, cisgender, heterosexual conservative. First of all, five of the six states — excluding Washington, D.C.— with the highest percentage of Black residents are in the South, with North Carolina ranking eighth, with a 24% Black population. More gay families live in the South than any other region of the United States and are less likely to fit the stereotype of being affluent, white and urban. Two of the six states with the highest percentage of transgender residents are in the South: Georgia and Texas. We incessantly rag on about stereotypical bigots while keeping our marginalized, exemplary communities on the conversational sidelines. 

Politics are not so cut-and-dry in the South. Two traditional swing states—North Carolina and Virginia—are in the South, and Georgia is beginning to be considered a swing state. While Trump won every state in the South except Virginia, not every state was a red carpet for Trump. North Carolina voted 49.8% for Trump and 46.2 % for Clinton. South Carolina voted 54.9% for Trump and 40.7% for Clinton. Georgia voted 50.4% for Trump and 45.3% for Clinton. The South cannot be boiled down to just Trump supporters. Our politics are as equally diverse as any other region of the United States.

The South being poor is a stereotype that, sadly, is largely true. Twenty states had a higher poverty rate than the U.S. average of 13.4% in 2017, and 11 of these were Southern states. Seven of the 10 states with the highest poverty rates were in the South, and these statistics are amplified for communities of color in the South. In North Carolina, Black people were almost twice as likely and Hispanic people were more than twice as likely as white people to be in poverty. Poverty is a systemic issue that isn’t the result of the people in the South. Four of the Southern states have Democratic governors, and these states still have high poverty levels. Poverty isn’t a political issue; it’s a systemic issue.

Blaming the South’s problems on individuals brushes aside the fact that many of these issues are systemic in nature. Voter suppression is perpetrated by racist systems and legislations, not by a racist Karen down the street. Leaving these systems unaddressed, especially when the same discriminatory systems exist outside of the South, reeks of stagnant elitism and continues to birth bigoted individuals in the region. 

Even within North Carolina, we see the basic generalization that urban areas like Charlotte and Raleigh are immune to bigotry, but we know that’s not true. Racism is still rampant in suburban neighborhoods and activism against it is continuously vilified. Homophobia is still prevalent in our urban school systems, and these discriminatory behaviors continue to manifest on campus. 

The next time you begin to make a generalization about the South, think. Is it rooted in racism and classism?

To quote the iconic world traveler and food taster Anthony Bourdain, “The South is not a monolith.” The South is a lot more flavorful than that, so stop serving up the bad take that the South is beyond salvation. There’s a lot more going on both inside and outside of these arbitrary boundaries, and it’s about time we start addressing some issues.