It’s also treasonous when a Yankee suggests succeeding…

Marjorie Taylor Green recently suggested that America needs a “national divorce.” Her plan was essentially to split the country into red and blue states so everyone could go their own way. It’s entirely impractical, but then again, look at the source.

For an entire news cycle, fellow liberals and Democrats raged against what she said, but then Donald Trump was indicted, and Kid Rock shot up beer cans. The world moved on, as we do.

Last week I had someone comment, “Just cut off the South,” on a post about the anti-drag bill that was passed in Tennessee. As a matter of fact, I receive variations of these types of comments all the time, typically from folks up North or on the West Coast. 

But if we cut off the South, what happens to the Southern drag queens? Y’all wanna just let them fend for themselves?

I’m a Southerner: I was born in Louisiana, raised in Tennessee, was fully cooked on the Gulf Coast, and then moved back to Tennessee to raise my kids where I grew up. I’m fully aware of the issues that exist in the South; I see them every single day. But I also think that non-Southern states use the South as a way to ignore their own issues. 

Let’s not forget that Trump won in 2016 because formerly blue states in the North flipped red or that the majority of incidents of police violence that led us to BLM protests didn’t happen in the South.

I think that many folks miss the inherent racism that exists with denigrating the South as a whole. For example, are you aware that Black folks make up only 15% of the population of New York but 26% of the population of Alabama? The South makes up the largest population of Black people in the United States. Of the states with the largest black populations, the top ten of them are all in the South: Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Louisiana, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi.

What I find alarming is that when we look at the cases of police brutality against Black people that brought about the protests in 2020, most didn’t happen in the South. George Floyd, Philando Castille, Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Elijah McClain, and Eric Garner were all killed north of here. But when race in America is brought up, the fingers are pointed South instead of people looking inward at the racism and violence that exist in their own community.

There is racism in the South.

But many folks use the South a scapegoat so they don’t have to address the realities of extremism, white nationalism, and hate crimes happening north of the Mason-Dixon Line. 

Often I will see folks advocating that people just uproot and leave the South altogether. This ignores what would happen to Southern states if a mass exodus occurred. Not to mention what a privileged statement, “just move,” is when dealing with populations who have suffered generational poverty. Some folks haven’t even left their own county, much less the state. Moving isn’t an option and it shouldn’t even be a suggestion.

Over the years, I’ve seen firsthand Black community organizers in the South working to make their communities better and safer. I watched as they rallied, registered people to vote, and literally stood toe-to-toe with police officers attempting to stop peaceful protests. I didn’t see this on the news; I had a front-row seat locked arm-in-arm.

And yes, at some of these events, I watched as good ol’ boys pulled up in pickups with Battle Flags waving in the wind. I’ve seen similar images from California, Portland, and New York. 

When you talk about the South, when you call it ignorant and racist and trash, you see in your mind images of rednecks in pickup trucks. When you think of the South, do you take the time to think of the Black activists, pastors, and poll workers? Are they also ignorant trash because they are also Southerners? No, you likely don’t mean them because you erase them. You don’t see them. You don’t recognize them or the hard work they do every single day to change the tide! 

Almost every single person you praise from the Civil Rights movement, the ones you share quotes from in February, they are almost exclusively Black Southerners. You don’t think of it that way because you are participating in the whitewashing of the South. You are a participant, unwittingly, in erasing Black culture and heritage.

You praise yourself because Biden won your state by 2% and then mock Southern states where he lost by 2% and ignore that both North and South are about 50% Trump supporters. 

When you say, “Throw out the South,” are you seeing these Black and queer organizers? Do they go in the bin too? You don’t see them because you’ve been trained to think that the North is the white savior headquarters, but the bullets up North are piercing black bodies too. You are trained not to see the people of color in the South, but they are here working hard to change the climate and build a better future for themselves, their kids, and their grandkids. 

I’m in awe of the work they have done.

See, we are all out here on the front lines fighting for our lives. Do you know where the largest demographic of LGBTQ+ people live? Not the East or West Coasts but the South. So if you are fighting for us, then support us! Don’t threaten to cut us off and forget that we exist. Don’t boycott our states; come to our drag shows and drink at our bars and support the work we are doing. 

The state of Tennessee recently expelled two Black Democrat representatives from their ranks. This was another example of when folks started saying, “Get rid of the South.” But are you aware that both Nashville and Memphis were able to override those expulsions and reinstate Justin Jones and Justin Pearson? Do you know who did that? Tennesseans! So you cut them off too because expulsion triggered an automatic election. That means we need your eyeballs and platforms to praise the work we are doing, not saying, “Throw the South out.”

The problems we are dealing with as a nation are terrifying, but they aren’t exclusive to the South. It exists all over, baby. It’s in your backyard just as much as it is mine. We won’t win by fighting each other. We win by fighting together.

And remember, it’s not just treasonous when a Southerner suggests a National Divorce; it’s just as bad when you do it too.