Molly Ivins was an author and political commentator, who has gained recognition for her ability to use satire and irony to discuss serious topics and messages. In Molly Ivins essay, “Is Texas America,” she ponders about unsuccessfully trying to “…explode the myths about Texas” during her journalist career (Ivins 782). Although Ivan discusses Texas as a massive and diverse state, and how the true Texas stereotype cannot be generalized and summed up into one area or type of Texan. However, throughout her article Ivins still continues to emphasize on a general stereotype of a white Republican male. Even though Ivins failed to deeply analyze the topics she discusses, such as homophobia, racism, and Texas identification, there are sources that do …show more content…
agree with her stance and are also more detailed. Ivins first introduces the topic of homophobia when politicians discuss “that the deal-breaker for Bush was including gays and lesbians” (Ivins 784). The topic of queer community has always been a complicated and delicate subject for many conservatives in the state of Texas. In fact, a news article from 2009 discusses a homosexual teacher and how people were ridiculing him in the outskirts of Dallas for assigning an essay to his students about the acceptance of all people, including Homosexuals (PR Newswire Association LLC). Ridiculous accusations were surfacing about the teacher such as him sodomizing one of his students, or he was having an affair with a well-known lawyer. Ivins brings in a quote from the woman she interviews about gay bashing in Midland Texas. The woman states that “there’s not a gay in Midland who would come out of the closet for fear people would think they’re a Democrat” (Ivan 784). Which means People in Texas don’t want others to wrongfully stereotype them for something they are not. Concerning the topic of racism in Texas, Ivins brings up how “…East Texas remains an ugly, glaring exception” for racism.
Stating that it’s more like Old South than Old South is anymore (Ivan 784). What Ivins means by East Texas duplicating the Old South is that the Old South is what Americans claims not be now. Americans like to think that they are all above misconceptions of race, but there are exceptions, such East Texas and Atlanta, Georgia where there is a prominent African American population. It establishes the fact that America only says they are above misconceptions of race when they don’t have to come across many black people. In more recent news, an article released by “Dallas News” that 24 cases of unarmed black men were murdered by police this year. Till this day Texas is still dealing with race crimes they sweep under the rug. Ivins also pinpoints the dragging of a man named James Byrd, by three white men who proceeds to torment and murder him, and “…only one prominent white politician attended his funeral” (Ivins 784). This goes to show that when it comes to black lives in Texas, it isn’t as big of an issue to our politicians and fellow Texans, Compared to a “tragedy” such as Blue Bell going out of
business. Texas Identification relates to the act of Identifying symbols, social issues, politics and people relating to the state of Texas, it also relates to Texas pride. In Ivins article, she explains that culturally she identifies Texas as resembling a mix between people from “Arkansas” and people from “Alaska” (Ivan 783). Ivins perpetuates the fact that Texans identify as “Texans rather than Americans abroad” (Ivan 785). In fact Texas Tribune took a poll of male and female respondents on whether they considered themselves “Texas first and Americans second” (Blank 2). The Tribune found that surprisingly twenty-seven percent considered themselves Texas first and Americans second. However, when polling only democrats and liberals an average of eighty-eight percent of men and women identified as Americans first and an Average of thirty-six percent of Republicans identified as Texans first. The two previous topics; Homophobia and Racism strongly relate to Texas identification due to the fact of the “old south” stereotype and the proven research of the two hate crimes constantly reoccurring. Ivins Article points out important arguments in Texas that need greater research and explanation and all of her stances have supported research. The problems that Ivins addresses in her essay are circumstances Texas is still dealing with today and needs to improve on. These problems are Homophobia, Racism and a new identification of what it is to be a Texan. Although changes such as lifting same-sex marriage laws are enacting in all of America, there are still articles surfacing about blatant Homophobia in Texas. More recently Houston voted against the non-discrimination policy, which makes it legal to discriminate against someone in the workplace, when Texas is still dealing with race, gender, and sexual orientation hate. In order for Texas to modify these issues, they must actively address them and not continuously sweep them under the rug.
The books “Fertile Ground, Narrow Choices” by Rebecca Sharpless and “The Path to a Modern South” by Walter L. Buenger paint a picture of what life was like from the late 1800’s to the 1930’s. Though written with their own style and from different views these two books describe the modernization of Texas through economics, politics, lifestyles and gender roles, specifically the roles of women during this era.
On June 23, 1845, the Republic of Texas was annexed to the U.S. as a slave state. Foley notes "the annexation of Texas as a slave state…became the great white hope of northern expansionists anxious to emancipate the nation from blacks, who, it was hoped, would find a home among the kindred population of 'colored races' in Mexico."(20) But rather than uniting as kindred races, discord between poor whites, African Americans and Mexicans resulted from competition for farmland as either tenant farmers or sharecroppers.
Although some of Woodward’s peripheral ideas may have been amended in varying capacities his central and driving theme, often referred to as the “Woodward Thesis,” still remains intact. This thesis states that racial segregation (also known as Jim Crow) in the South in the rigid and universal form that it had taken by 1954 did not begin right after the end of the Civil War, but instead towards the end of the century, and that before Jim Crow appeared there was a distinct period of experimentation in race relations in the South. Woodward’s seminal his...
Assumptions from the beginning, presumed the Jim Crow laws went hand in hand with slavery. Slavery, though, contained an intimacy between the races that the Jim Crow South did not possess. Woodward used another historian’s quote to illustrate the familiarity of blacks and whites in the South during slavery, “In every city in Dixie,’ writes Wade, ‘blacks and whites lived side by side, sharing the same premises if not equal facilities and living constantly in each other’s presence.” (14) Slavery brought about horrible consequences for blacks, but also showed a white tolerance towards blacks. Woodward explained the effect created from the proximity between white owners and slaves was, “an overlapping of freedom and bondage that menaced the institution of slavery and promoted a familiarity and association between black and white that challenged caste taboos.” (15) The lifestyle between slaves and white owners were familiar, because of the permissiveness of their relationship. His quote displayed how interlocked blacks...
Southern Horror s: Lynch Law in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells took me on a journey through our nations violent past. This book voices how strong the practice of lynching is sewn into the fabric of America and expresses the elevated severity of this issue; she also includes pages of graphic stories detailing lynching in the South. Wells examined the many cases of lynching based on “rape of white women” and concluded that rape was just an excuse to shadow white’s real reasons for this type of execution. It was black’s economic progress that threatened white’s ideas about black inferiority. In the South Reconstruction laws often conflicted with real Southern racism. Before I give it to you straight, let me take you on a journey through Ida’s
Imagine a historian, author of an award-winning dissertation and several books. He is an experienced lecturer and respected scholar; he is at the forefront of his field. His research methodology sets the bar for other academicians. He is so highly esteemed, in fact, that an article he has prepared is to be presented to and discussed by the United States’ oldest and largest society of professional historians. These are precisely the circumstances in which Ulrich B. Phillips wrote his 1928 essay, “The Central Theme of Southern History.” In this treatise he set forth a thesis which on its face is not revolutionary: that the cause behind which the South stood unified was not slavery, as such, but white supremacy. Over the course of fourteen elegantly written pages, Phillips advances his thesis with evidence from a variety of primary sources gleaned from his years of research. All of his reasoning and experience add weight to his distillation of Southern history into this one fairly simple idea, an idea so deceptively simple that it invites further study.
Texas is an intricate state with deep roots embedded in limited government authority. Almost all, Texans, favor the limited government between citizens and state. The two most important cultures in Texas are individualistic and traditionalistic culture. Individualistic views are summoned by limited government and that politics are the root of malicious acts, and is usually responded with negative reactions from the community. The individualistic cultures’ vision is egotistical for ones self-interest. The individualistic culture is viewed as priority in private independent business rather that those of the community as a whole. Unlike individualistic views, traditionalistic culture is motioned by conservatism. This cultures vision is supported by the common wealth of society’s privileged. Its beliefs are usually of distrust in its bureaucracy. Traditionalistic culture maintains an obligation to its family hierarchy. The traditionalistic subculture has a lower voting turn out rate compared to the opposition. These distinctive cultures were bestowed upon Texans in the 1800’s, when Texas was changing into a diverse and demographically society. Individualistic and traditionalistic cultures are the outline of ideology and certainty to the way Texas government is administrated. This has a huge impact on the way the Texas structures its government and why people support such a structure. And Texas is viewed as both subcultures.
The next few paragraphs will compare blacks in the north to blacks in the south in the 1800’s. In either location blacks were thought of as incompetent and inferior. The next few paragraphs will explain each group’s lifestyle and manner of living.
22 March 2014. Texas Political Culture - "Texas Political Culture" 2009.
In the youth of Texas, the Democratic Party enjoyed electoral dominance on all levels of state government and in the representation in the national government. Democratic rule was dominated by a conservative white political elite that strongly promoted economic development, but that resisted change either in race relations or social programs for the poor ("Texas Politics," 2009). Republicans were not completely absent during this period, but their electoral victories were few and limited in scope ("Texas Politics," 2009). In every election after 1980, however, the Republican strength grew into the now dominant rule that currently reigns in Texas. Since the 1990’s, the Republican Party, despite the attempts of others, has had a stronghold on the state government. With that being said, the Republican Party has dominated the overall elections.
Between 1882 and 1952 Mississippi was the home to 534 reported lynchings’ more than any other state in the nation (Mills, 1992, p. 18). Jim Crow Laws or ‘Black Codes’ allowed for the legalization of racism and enforced a ‘black way’ of life. Throughout the deep-south, especially in rural communities segr...
Unlike the black/white dichotomous experience of the South, Oklahoma became a foreshadowing example of the diversity of the American West. While the South experienced a period of multiracialism before removal, through segregation, the South never experienced the cultural diversity seen in Oklahoma. Oklahoma, both politically and demographically, would develop...
Political culture is broadly shared values, beliefs, and attitudes about how government and society should function. Gov. Rick Perry speaks supporting strong Texas state government and minimal federal government intervention. Based on Texas’s founding origins, and experiences and orientation toward the marketplace (pro big business), who should participate in government, and the role of government. The three state political culture categories are moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic. Texas is a mix of traditionalistic and moralistic according to our textbook. The moralistic New England Puritanism view of the common good, government should promote public good. Individualistic view of government to provide order and protect property
The social conventions that are set up in this book play out in a small black community in Ohio called "the Bottom." The community itself formed when a white slave owner tricked his naïve black slave into accepting hilly mountainous land that would be hard to farm and very troublesome instead of the actual bottom (fertile valley) land that he was promised. The slave was told "when God looks down, it's the bottom. That's why we call it so. It's the bottom of heaven-best land there is" (4), and on the basis of this lie a community was formed. Its almost as if the towns misfortune is passed down ...
...one example of how African-Americans were forced to live in big cities and how the North wasn’t as promising as it was supposed to be.