re: Black and white get along a lot better in the South than in the enlightened North or Cali

I moved to Seattle from Atlanta in the late 90s, and our company sent several black people there, too. The "locals" were so hateful that all but ONE moved back to Atlanta within the first year. The only one that stayed was the gay guy!

I ended up having to share an office with a west-coast uppity black guy. Our discussions were quite lively, to say the least. His perception was that the southern blacks were "ignorant" and "dumb." He also believed that ALL white southerners owned slaves, and there was no debating that "fact." Dude barely had any black people (at the time) for a frame of reference.

I would later work for a company headquartered in Stamford, CT. I found that the attitude was generally the same. Locals love to wear progressiveness on their sleeves, but they quickly retreat into their gated communities or to their cabins in the mountains when they could be out saving the planet. The only black people they encountered drove the car service from Stamford to the NY office.

It is absolutely amazing to me how easily people can be convinced of something without concerning themselves to find the truth.