That's one interpretation of why all the states that voted Democrat when Democrats were the party of Jim Crow and the Klan suddenly started voting Republican when the Republicans started opposing desegregation in the 60s. Does saying "Southern Strategy" throw people here into hysterics?
Oh, trust me, you can say whatever you want, but you WILL own it!
We can talk about KKK. They were formed 20 miles from where I was born, I know all about KKK shit. It actually started as an insurgency under Nathan Bedford Forrest and gained traction when the carpetbaggers came down from the north to capitalize on "reconstruction". You're exactly right about the two political parties swapping theories and policies in the 20th century but it too was a long time coming. And the way I see it, it's their party and you and I aren't invited anyway. If we were, we wouldn't be discussing the sad state of affairs this country has found itself in.
Southern strategy... I probably have my own take on that having grown up there. From my point of view, it's the government using the population like a goddamn battery, black or white. Racism is as dead as it's gonna get I guess, and it exists everywhere. In fact, the first cross I ever saw burned in someone's yard happened in NE --and I got blamed for it because I was from AL. I actually thought the girl was kinda cute and she was in my class, but they moved from there before I got to know her; I don't blame them. I bet they still think that kid from AL did it.
The real racists are the ones that keep the shit alive and well and on the tip of your tongue. MLK was a great man but I have to wonder if it's because he's dead. What would come out of his mouth today? Would he be a racebaiter like his colleague Sharp? Or would be a corrupt politician like his other colleague, Jackson? Because I seriously doubt if he were still alive that he wouldn't be polarized in some form or another, and of his own doing. Sorta like how JFK just didn't live long enough to get blamed for Vietnam, though it certainly was gaining momentum before and after his time.
