After spending the past couple weeks on a road trip helping deliver a friend to his new assignment in a military base in the deep South of these United States, I received a quick education about race relations in the South and the military's version of racial harmony. I'm sorry to say that for me, the stereotypes of the South were confirmed.
As we jumped into our hire car and headed south, I've formed several impressions. One of the worst is that the state of race relations in the South is extremely poor; and it is poor because races simply do not try to relate. We would head into one city where mile after mile we would only see white people, then literally, a few miles down, we would see only black people for mile after mile. Never have I seen such a perfect dividing line between towns and neighborhoods as I have seen in the South.
The most troubling part of the trip is when we actually arrived at the military base, which was located in a depressed area, and we were educated in Southern racial harmony.
As soon as my friend arrived, he was corralled into a quick orientation by the base's leadership -- but for minorities only. In this orientation, he was shown a map and the places he could not go. It was explained that many of these areas have "anti-minority sentiments" and that if any of the minority soldiers were caught in a "disturbance" in these areas, the military would not support them. The organizers also pointed out several bars that minority personnel should not enter because they were unofficially considered "whites-only" bars.
Also, the issue of fighting between races was brought up. It was made clear that only the minorities on base were responsible for good race relations in the surrounding neighborhood. If a white man on the street uses a racial slur, the minority soldier is to walk away or return to base. The military will not support any soldier who is found to have escalated the situation by arguing or fighting back. Essentially, if a minority is found to be fighting for any other reason than mortal danger, it will be the minority who will face disciplinary action.
There are several problems I see with these "minority orientations." I don't understand why minorities had to be singled out for it. If there are "whites-only" bars and neighborhoods, why doesn't the leadership gather every single soldier in the base and tell them not to patronize ANY businesses in those neighborhoods and bars? Why won't the military tell the soldiers that they won't support ANY soldiers found in any of those areas and threaten a court-martial if they go?
I know that the surrounding area is poor and is reliant on the military base for virtually all of its revenue, but doesn’t that mean that they are in the best position to force the neighborhood to change?
Is the South really this far gone that race relations simply mean isolating minorities and making sure they won’t make waves?
Well, I can't really contest any of what you said, because the furthest south I've been is Orlando, and let's face it, that's not a real Southern town. As far as "white-only" and "black-only" communities, I don't think that's a phenomenon restricted to the south. I live in Philly, which is very much a Yankee city, and it's the same way. There are exclusively Indian neighborhoods, exclusively Arab neighborhoods, exclusively Chinese neighborhoods (uh, Chinatown?), Hispanic, black, white, you get the picture. It's a shame, I think, but, on a more optimistic note, I think that many of these people's children will grow up more and more tolerant of other ethnicities. Considering that true racial equality only came about as recently as the '60s, we should probably expect to see racial problems for another few generations.