Op-Ed "The Rising Tide of Southern Culture"

Op-Ed "The Rising Tide of Southern Culture"

This Op-Ed written in 1999 is what seems to be a satirical piece arguing against negative stereotypes of Southern Culture. In it, the two writers argue that University of Richmond, despite being located in the former capital of the Confederacy, is not Southern at all due to the influx of Northerners. The writers wrote, "The War is over -- can't we all just get along? And by the way, down here it's called the War Between the States, not the Civil War" suggesting that racial tensions were a thing of the past and to characterize the South by its racial past was wrong. This argument in itself is as ignorant as the overgeneralization of Richmond as the "Confederate South," as it downplays Richmond's role in the Civil War and the continuing oppression of Black Richmond citizens through housing segregation, unequal access to public education, etc.

Lafontaine, Dan. "The Rising Tide of Southern Culture." The University of Richmond Collegian 86, no. 04. (September 16, 1999): 8. http://collegian.richmond.edu/cgi-bin/richmond?a=d&d=COL19990916.2.26&srpos=17&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-

The Collegian, University of Richmond

1999-09-16

English

Collegian86.4.8-19990916.jpg

Richmond (Va.)