We Ain’t Like Her

By Kleinheider Posted on June 16, 2009 at 12:38 pm

Laura Harrison McBride claims a Upper East exemption to Tennessee racism:

Tennessee is not known for its tolerance of African-Americans, of course…except maybe Upper East Tennessee, which was too poor and hardscrabble to support plantations. Therefore, there was no need for a lesser class of humanity, for non-citizens…for slaves. Indeed, having lived there for almost ten years, I can say that I saw rather less racism there than I would have believed before I arrived. I soon found that Upper East Tennessee is different. Maybe it’s the Scots-Irish gene pool. Maybe it’s good sense. Maybe it’s historical poverty that filled the hollows around the Holston River with people more intent on survival than on bothering to be hostile to anyone else. Maybe because it’s so otherworldly beautiful, it doesn’t make sense to be hostile to anyone.

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Tags: Diane Black, Sherri Goforth  

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