Don’t condescend to red state neighbors

In the course of a week, I found myself defending my political views to a close relative, and then defending his politics to a potential date on Hinge.

I recently shared an Instagram post that stated that all the national articles about states redrawing voting maps should include the history of slavery in the state that is mentioned. My Kentuckian relative responded: “Now do New England,” suggesting that I was being too harsh on the South. To which I replied, “I agree, racist systems are in every state,” and emphasized that acknowledging the fraught history of America would be useful in every region. 

Cut to a week later, when I matched with a born-and-raised Minnesotan on Hinge. Upon hearing that I am from Kentucky, he responded, “That must have been interesting, especially being a liberal there.” When I mentioned that Kentucky has a Democratic governor in Andy Beshear, he said, “Not to insult your state, but they love (U.S. Sen.) Mitch McConnell.”

This was news to me. Most Kentuckians I’d ever talked to about McConnell, who was finally seen in public this week after a lengthy convalescence, seem to view him as a necessary evil. How often is someone from Kentucky getting attention in Washington? Most people told me they voted for him so that Kentucky couldn’t be ignored. 

I see McConnell’s politics as anti-Kentuckian, but it is hard to argue that Kentucky would otherwise be a respected state. The history goes back to the term “hillbilly,” which is used to describe people who grew up in the mountains of Kentucky — like my grandma and her mother — and often implies that they are less educated and backward. (Though my great-grandmother had a master’s degree.) When the whole nation sees you this way — including the Hinge date who wants to tell me what I apparently don’t know about my home state — that’s how you wind up voting for the guy who will make you feel like you have a say.

After my online back and forth with my relative, I stumbled upon Tressie McMillan Cottom’s New York Times opinion article, “Why I keep my eyes — and my mind — on the South,”, in which she argues, “Nothing about the future of this country can be resolved unless it is first resolved [in the South].” 

The South is where many successful social movements started, including The Civil Rights Movement. It is where need to see change in the country. The disenfranchisement of Black southern voters tells us that white supremacists know this. They have always known this. And that is why, just on tactics alone, we cannot continue to discredit the people of the South, the people inhabiting red states.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also took up the “red states” debate on the May 7th episode of the podcast, “It’s Open with Ilana Glazer.” Cortez argued that rural areas in red states are oppressed and pointed to the state-sanctioned neglect that these areas in red states often receive, e.g., the land in these states isn’t being protected — it’s being sold to AI developers. When Americans, especially socially conscious Americans, dismiss these states, that allows for that neglect to keep happening, and that allows white supremacists to stay in power, to redraw voting maps and take away the votes of marginalized Americans. 

So, what can a liberal white guy from Minnesota do? Pay attention to these states. 

Pick one: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi. You can donate to grass roots campaigns and political movements you support in the South. 

When you look closely, you’ll see that there is hope for these states. In Kentucky, Charles Booker became the Democratic nominee for Senate. He’d be the state’s first Black U.S. senator. Booker ran in 2022 against incumbent, Rand Paul.  His grass roots campaign —  “From the Hood to the Holler” — got nearly 40% of the vote. That’s four out of 10 voting Kentuckians. Persuading one more to come along — or the legions who don’t vote — would change Kentucky and change the South and change the country. 

So instead of condescendingly looking down on our red state neighbors, maybe get to work understanding the systems that silence them and supporting the movements that want them to prosper and live freely.