Beware the Hypocrisy of the North

In the US, it’s a big deal to move from the North to the South.

It’s an even bigger deal if you don’t, but your firstborn child does.

On September 25, 2024, I learned I would be a part of this reality show, also known as my son’s life.

The title: New York to Tennessee.

In my head, I began to run through the plot I had been told thousands of times.

The racist South, obsessed with its plantation economy, saw no reason to abolish slavery. The righteous North, the one with humanity, disagreed. The result was the bloodiest war in US history, one that almost derailed the entire American project.

After the war, slaves were freed, but segregation was codified. It was, after all, the Southern way. Only the progressive North could absorb the freed labor—cue the Great Migration.

Almost a century after the Civil War ended, federal troops had to be deployed to forcibly integrate the state university in Mississippi. Another half century after that, Southerners still wanted to commemorate the Lost Cause.

But this time, with my blood boiling—the same way it had countless times before—I decided to dig deeper…

I learned that Wall Street—yes, that one—was home to a large slave market. In fact, the state of New York, the apparent bastion of the Underground Railroad, didn’t fully abolish slavery until 1827.

Two decades later in Rochester, escaped slave Frederick Douglass established The North Star, an anti-slavery newspaper. He had allies—and enemies, the latter likely responsible for the suspected arson that destroyed his home.

By the time the Great Migration rolled around, Rochester was ready—to segregate.

Realtors, at the urging of their professional organization, refused to sell certain homes to black families.

Their efforts were backed by banks and other lenders who refused to issue home loans based on skin color.

When loopholes were found, neighbors weren’t the most welcoming, or just frankly threatening.

Eventually, the tension culminated in the 1964 race riots.

But nothing changed.

As of 2020, two percent of residents in Rochester’s wealthiest suburb were black. On the other hand, in the city itself, that number was 38 percent.

The metro area has school districts with minority enrollment of five percent and others with minority enrollment of 93 percent.

I did learn, however, that there is no need to single out Rochester.

Of the ten most segregated metro areas in the country, eight are in the North.

Not feeling welcome in part explains the New Great Migration, whereby educated black Americans are reversing demographic trends and repopulating the South. In stark contrast to the segregated North, among the ten best cities for black professionals, nine are in the South.

What’s more, as of this writing, 19 US states have never elected a black politician to the US House of Representatives. Only one of those is a former Confederate state.

In other words, while lawn signs and DEI initiatives in Rochester insist that Black Lives Matter, day-to-day life in the South is far more about show than tell.

So, son, my digging has confirmed that it is in fact a big deal to move from the North to the South.

Because as far as avoiding hypocrisy goes, you might have found yourself an upgrade.