In appearance the South is impassive and conservative, enduring and laconic. Don't you believe it. It's a structurally militant place, catastrophically and unconsciously ruled by the legacy of slavery, which is laundered and unrecognizably reconstituted in religious and political institutions.
And these are nice people. That's why it is so confusing. I see it all the time. Many of the Southerners I know have been interpersonally won over by the Hispanics. And why not? The Hispanics are the most American people among us: open-hearted, hard-working and grateful for everything.
But try to understand the idea of unconsciously driven behaviors, that there might be underlying motivations controlling your actions entirely below the threshold of awareness. Normally it's easier to see this in other people and then, if it isn't too frightening, it's applied to yourself.
Ah, but if it is too frightening it gets held-down, repressed, and so the behavior worsens as the denial festers. Denial is empowering--to the stuff that is being denied. Southerners continue to empower the legacy of slavery because they won't own it. Now it is all of our legacy as well.
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