What you described is all a part of the South--just one South, not two.
There are bad attitudes on both sides of the races. But there can be closeness too. As you said, in the North and other areas of the country you can go a long time without seeing blacks. In the South we grow up side by side.
When I was a child my mother had a black "maid" who helped with the cleaning and cooking (Mom had the four of us children in five years and was just a little stressed by it all). I loved Edna, our maid, and she loved me. I probably spent as much time with Edna as I did with Mom, when I was a baby. So I always had a real love for Edna.
A few years ago I worked for a small newspaper, and my supervisor was a black lady. We had a great time working together, spent half the time laughing. We still call each other every few months to stay in touch.
So what you mentioned does exist in the South--but the other also exists, the love and the caring for one another. And the caring is the part that's never written about in the newspapers or the movies, only the bad.
Also there is an understanding of one another. The Southern blacks are different from the blacks in other parts of the country. (Just as the white people are different.)
Southern white people understand Southern black people, just as Southern black people understand Southern white people. Some problems still exist on both sides, but no one understands the other better.
And yet it all-- the love and the problems-- takes place in one South.
Thanks,Cedar.Very insightful post with a lot of truths.
I wonder,however,as the country becomes more homogonized,will the crassness and belligerency of the mass culture make inroads into traditional Southern gentility and inter-racial understanding?Remains to be seen,I guess.
In college when I mentioned the love and stong bond between us and our housekeeper growing up. A psych prof told me "that wasn't love, she was PAID." I know he was wrong! I know Macel loved us....the prof just wasn't from round here.