Southern values are here to stay – and there’s nothing wrong with that

Not too long ago, I was whistling “Dixie” and scrolling through the Tab US webpage when I came across this article.

As a Southerner, it pays to have a thick skin. Folks from other parts of the country at times think less of us. This is of course due to the many stereotypes about our beloved Southland, many of which paint us as an ignorant, uneducated, backward, and sometimes incestuous people. On the same token, we have our stereotypes about the Yankees up North being snobby, pretentious, city-slicking prudes that tend to ruin everything once they head down our way. The existence of these stereotypes is common knowledge to anyone from both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Stone Mountain, GA

The problem is, the article in question perpetuates these stereotypes with a “big brother North” and “little brother South” motif where it paints the North as elitist and the South as backward.

“But the South isn’t all bad. It’s not like it can’t learn. And just like a bad little kid, there is always big brother whose job is to put little brother in his place.

So over the course of time, as history can attest, the North has taken the role of big brother and slapped the South around when they were doing wrong and kicked ’em until they fixed their attitude.”

While I do have family in New Jersey, my knowledge of Northern culture and values is sorely lacking, and I cannot by any means do it justice. I can tell you they’re good people and that stereotypes are just stereotypes, but that’s about it. What I can do, however, is make the case for Dixie.

And believe me, folks, Dixie’s very much alive.

A gazebo near Stone Mountain, GA

Faith

The Bible Belt, it’s one of the South’s many nicknames—that’s no secret. The Christian faith, practiced through a wide variety of denominations (or lack thereof), is engrained deep in the roots of Southern culture. Whether it’s Wednesday, Saturday, or Sunday, it’s generally assumed that you attend mass on one of those days.

The chapel inside Ft. Zachary Taylor, Key West, FL

“If you go to church three times a week, that’s just how you were brought up,” said Marine LCpl Tim Strom, “Everything, their ethics are all based on and taught by their parents and their religion.”

Originally from Massachusetts, Tim moved to North Carolina with his family as a child, giving him the unique perspective of having seen life on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea, Key West, FL

Indeed, this way of life starts in childhood, Southerners are taught the Faith from birth. I, for example, was brought up Catholic, and some of my earliest memories are of attending mass at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Cary, North Carolina. The Christian upbringing then, in turn, sculpts the perspective of Southerners. To us, morality is absolute as what is moral or immoral is defined by God’s word and God’s word alone.

Robert E. Lee Memorial Church, Lexington, VA

I contend that the article in question distorts the Judeo-Christian values of the South, and for that matter,  the constitutional right of Freedom of Religion. Rather, it seems to relegate both to the unjustified realm of fanaticism by juxtaposing them with left leaning views on social issues and religion.

“The South has continued some of its bad behavior into the 21st century with LGBT rights violations and the idea of ‘freedom from religious persecution’ which  is just fancy talk for trying to make Christianity the government mandated religion.”

I would also argue that the article implies, through guilt by association, that conservatism is somehow despicable because the decision was made to place it in the same sentence as racism and hate.

“It has been the center of racism, hate, and a conservative nature unparalleled anywhere else.”

The old convent of the Sisters of St. Ursula in New Orleans, LA

If you ask me, Faith is the first and foremost Southern value because of how it guides all the others. It is because of Faith that Southerners are a humble, hardworking people. It is because of Faith that Southerners don’t curse.  It is because of Faith that Southerners are grateful for what they have and refrain from comparing themselves with others.  In fact, the Yankee idea of “privilege” and the variety of modifiers folks seem to add to it these days isn’t a popular one in the South because it’s based on envy, and envy is a sin.

Family

A Southern value that is most often linked to faith is family. For Southerners, the traditional family is a sacred unit, and even in an age of sky high divorce rates, this holds true.

Flashback to 2012

“Y’know, it’s not uncommon that everyone (in the family) lives in the same town.” Tim continued, “I’m close with my sister and my parents, but not my cousins. In the South, there’s like three generations that are tightknit.”

What Tim said rang true. I remember talking to other kids when I was younger whose grandparents and great grandparents all lived in town with them. As someone whose kin is scattered from North Carolina, to New Jersey, to the Caribbean island of Cuba, large tightknit families always astonished me.

My brother and I in Knoxville, TN

Tim reiterated the importance of the closeness of Southern families before taking his view in a different direction.

“Everything gets passed down. It’s all about tradition.”

The idea of the generational family allows for this importance of tradition in the South. Indeed, everything is passed down. Be it holiday traditions, beliefs, values, or even family heirlooms hailing from a bygone era, it’s all carried on through the ages. Even though the reasons why something’s done are sometimes lost with time.

Dogs and lizards count as family too

It is also still a common practice in the South for families to gather together to have dinner at a usual time.  There, they say grace and give thanks to God before tasting what’s been prepared for the evening. It’s meant as a time for bonding and to talk about the day’s events.

Reverence

In the South, we hold our ancestors in great reverence, hence why we’ve built so many monuments to commemorate them, to honor their sacrifice, and to learn from them.

“People have roots in the Civil War,” Tim told me. “You never hear Northerners bragging about their family serving in the Union Army.”

Confederate cemetery near Lewisburg, WV

Some of those who we honor are heroes to us. For example, while I do not have a Confederate ancestor, I happen to keep small busts of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Robert Edward Lee, and Jefferson Davis on my windowsill, as they are the men I’ve always looked up to.

We also do not water down our history. In fact, we take the good with the bad. Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner, historical fact. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and was the 3^rd President of the United States of America—also a historical fact. There isn’t a group of people on the face of the Earth that doesn’t have some sins to atone for, but to say the South has a “conviction for being on the wrong side of history,” as the article in question puts it,  is intellectually dishonest.

There’s a million sides to every historical narrative.

Thing is? The South’s done a great many things in the past (Thank a Southerner every time you take a sip of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper), although for some it depends on whose version of events you take as gospel.

And for that matter, God’s gift to the universe…Cheerwine

Now, it’s no secret that we used to have more monuments standing proud in our beloved Southland. It was different before corrupt politicians and special interest groups deemed it advantageous to dishonor those who came before us.

If dishonoring the dead is a Northern value, then I tell you, we want no part of it.

Savannah, GA

Identity

Let me be clear, I could’ve chosen from a litany of ideas, values, and character traits that we here in the South find admirable and would consider wholly Southern. Yet, I chose Faith, Family, and Reverence—why?

Because those are the parts of our identity most often attacked.

See, there are folks from other parts of the country who come down here and act all ornery because we’re different, we aren’t like them. Because of that, they’ve made it their life’s work, in one form or another, to see us changed—to see us more like them. But see, that’s just wrong.

“So as the new social progress flows in, arts and culture flourish, and the excellent people remain, I have one thing to say to the old southern way – Goodbye Dixie, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va

So, I think I speak for the majority of Southerners when I say, put a sock in it about us not being “socially progressive.” Who defines what progress is anyway? You? Me? If “progress” is betraying who we are, well then, we want no part of that either.

The fact of the matter is, we don’t want to be anyone else. Southern beliefs and Southern values are here to stay. You have your way, we have ours. If you still think we ought to be more like you? Well then… bless your heart.

Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va