Exactly whose culture is Amber Billings talking about in her column? Certainly not hers. I find it very ironic that Billings is writing an article about racism and at the same time is herself being racist towards Southerners. First, Billings is completely stereotyping Southern people. She states that Southerners basically sit around and thrive on “glory stories of Southern belles, plantations and the good ol’ days”. How can she make such a remark about the entire Southern population? I have lived in the south for my entire life and never once have I engaged in a conversation about the “good ol’ days” or even seen a plantation.

Second, Ms. Billings states that she can “only imagine” what it was like to learn about the Civil War in Southern schools. Did she attend school in the South? Obviously not or she would realize that we learned about in the same fashion as everyone else. We learned, we assessed, and we moved on.

The incidents of racism that Billings talked about were just isolated incidents. Most of the stories came from friends who were not from the South, but just had a story to tell about an experience they supposedly had. How can she write a serious article about racism when she didn’t talk to a true Southerner? She also states that Southern college students grew up in “families and communities that harbor a racist mentality” due to our parents attending desegregated schools.

Do some research Ms. Billings. Does the Little Rock Crisis of 1957 ring a bell? My parents were just beginning preschool when the schools in our hometown were integrated. Most southerners living today have never attended a segregated school.

I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist, because it does. However, it exists everywhere, not just in the South.

I would also like to see everyone treated for the individuals we are. But it doesn’t just have to change in the South. It needs to change everywhere and Billings also needs to change the way she thinks about Southerners. Until she and everyone like her does, no one will be accepted for who they are.

Ginger Brady

Junior

Elementary education