The Murky Racism of the North

There is apparently a popular saying in Pennsylvania that, as of yesterday, I have heard a half a dozen times now that goes something like this: "Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh and Philadelphia at two ends and Alabama in the middle." Quick-witted readers can surmise easily that what is being said in that line is the fact that Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are the progressive liberal intellectual havens stuck in two ends of what can only be described as a Southern style population of backward, conservative racists. So this gives you a chance to replace "Alabama" in that line with your favorite flavor of an easy-target southern state like Mississippi or Louisiana.

In my years of visiting the North-East and now living here for the last month I have time and time again come across this smug attitude that somehow being racist is a uniquely Southern quality. When I have told a variety of NorthEastern whites (most of whom have actually NEVER visited the Deep South) that I lived in Louisiana for 22 years, the range of responses I have received have been nothing short of amazing and, if I may be so bold as to say, ignorant. Here's a sample of the responses I have heard so far:

1] OMG, I could never live in a state that was so racist.

2] Don't they still lynch black people there?

3] I hear they still practice segregation down there.

I must admit this last one is the most jaw-dropping response of all. All you have to do is look out the window from the high-needs elementary school in the North part of Philly where I teach and you will see segregation in all of its glory fully practised in Philadelphia!!! The area of the school that I currently teach in is desperately poor and almost 100% black. I have toured other predominantly black and minority high schools and every single one of them has been in areas of Philly where I see no white people.These are areas that are again predominantly black and deathly poor. This is not segregation? Or let me ask the question in a different way. How is this segregation any different from New Orleans, Louisiana or Mobile, Alabama or for that matter anywhere else in the country? Am I supposed to believe that the segregation in New Orleans is all because of those racist Southern whites and the segregation of the North is just well, you know, miraculously because of something else?

The interesting irony about white folks in the North though is that every single white person that I have talked to or interacted with in the Northeast comes off sounding so incredibly open-minded and progressive that you would find it hard to believe that anyone here holds even remotely racist views. Most of them sound like compassionate liberals who, for instance, will decry the state of the Philadelphia school system, the poor condition of the black neighborhoods and how the education system is failing minority children. But oh no, its not because of racism. Obviously only Southern whites have the market captured on that ill of society. To an outisder like myself who is neither black nor white and is neither from the South or from the North such talk stinks of delusional hypocrisy. If such an overwhelming majority of white folks in Philadelphia are open-minded progressives why does the city look just as segregated as Baton Rouge, Louisiana or Mobile, Alabama? Why is the school system in Philly failing toward blacks and minorities just as badly as in the South? Why are the poor neighborhoods in Philly pretty much all black just like in New Orleans??

I have embarked upon a new life in the North East and I can't wait to find the answers to these questions. I want to live here long enough to break open the outward progressiveness of liberal whites in this region of the country and diagnose where the racism is still hiding. Because as the title of this essay says its way murkier than the simple, open racism of the south.

In that sense handling racism in the South was much easier. As a dear African American friend of mine who moved back to the Deep South after living in the NorthEast for a decade said, "Racism is easier to deal with in the South. You know within a minute of talking to a person in the South whether they're prejudiced or not. Racism that I faced in the NorthEast on the other hand was way way more poisonous and murkier than anything I had ever experienced living in the South. Its harder to pinpoint and it took me longer to sense that a racism of much more subtle variety was being practised up there. A racism that is covered with practised speeches of liberalism and social justice while happily implementing practices that are in contradiction with their outwardly stated beliefs." As an Indian man who lived in the South for two decades and is now living in the NorthEast I only now have begun to understand what he meant. From what I have seen so far, whites in the NorthEast, as far as I can tell, practice the same kind of urban to suburban mobility as southern whites do. By that I mean, many of them live and celebrate living in diverse neighborhoods as a single student or professional or as married (without children) couples. Then when they have kids, they move to all-white suburban neighborhoods with "good" school districts that are attended by other affluent whites (and of course those high-performing Asian kids for that tad bit of diversity). How is this "white flight" any different from what I saw living in Baton Rouge where most whites after having children would drive in hoards to Ascension or Livingston parish? I will tell you what the difference is. In the South about half of those white folks will tell you to your face that its because they didnt want their children going to schools in crime-ridden black neighborhoods. You may balk at their explanation but at least its honest and easy to fight against. In the northeast, the stated reason given by a white couple (one that I talked to just yesterday)would most likely be 'Well we just wanted a good education for our children. Its different when you dont have children and we would love to live in a more diverse neighborhood but we couldn't". Yeah great! But the outcome in both cases is the same! Segregated School districts!!

So to those Northeasterners who still describe their state as being two progressive cities at two ends with Mississippi, Alabama or Louisiana stuck in the middle, I say to you: "Look in your backyard before you label all racism as Southern. To describe the problem of segregation and utter neglect of poor minorities in your own Northern state in this way is at best trite and at worst, conveniently irresponsible. By allocating a regional adjective to your own brand of racism you are in effect saying that a Northeasterner couldnt possibly be inherently racist. That all racism by its very definition is Southern in form and function. "

The Northeastern urban, chic and educated racism that is causing the same symptoms of segregation in Philadelphia as in New Orleans is much murkier, much more subtle, and much more devious than the straightforward redneck racism of the South that is easy to spot and easy to incriminate. Its about time to own up to it and stop labeling it as southern. In other words, there is no Alabama between Pittsburgh and Philly. Its all very much Pennsylvania!!!