Re: "Southern accent" or "Southern speech". There are multiple videos/articles/programs etc. available on this topic. I'd start with reading this one. There's a segment of our profession (speech-language pathology) that treats "dialect" or "accent reduction".

So, bias against "Southern speech" = racist? Perhaps not. But discriminatory? Evidence says yes.

GWTW seems an interesting choice in the context of this thread, IMO. Would strongly recommend that Ms. Deen read and study To Kill a Mockingbird for starters. She will now have plenty of free time, apparently.

“I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.” Harper Lee.

I agree that there is discrimination based on accents, not just Southern. Accents can, however, improve your persona, especially in women. I for one find that my Southern accent works to my advantage in Arizona in my line of work. Patients find it warm and comforting. Paula Deen, I have always felt, plays up her accent to stress her Southerness. If it occasionally backfires on her, it has more frequently convinced non-Southerners that she must be really Southern. I occasionally get comments about my accent, which is fairly mild comparatively, but I get away with murder because I say things dripping with honey so I have no incentive to change. ;)

This thread is reminding me of this:

JEFF FOXWORTHY:
You know I mean some of the, the most intelligent people I've ever known talk like I do. In fact I used to do a joke about that, about you know the Southern accent, I said nobody wants to hear their brain surgeon say, 'Al’ight now what we're gonna do is, saw the top of your head off, root around in there with a stick and see if we can't find that dad burn clot.’

#onlythingiamcontributingtothisthreadbecauseithink pauladeenisamoron

Screencap from the NBC affiliate here in Birmingham:

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18rm...g/k-bigpic.jpg

I grew up in Texas and Georgia and I know first hand that what Southerners say in public does not always align with their private feelings. Even so, I was shocked as a teenager to realize my own beloved grandparents were comfortable using racial slurs around close friends and family. I started to challenge them on this and they reacted with bewilderment that almost equaled my own.

Then I had an epiphany: They were 60. I was a teenager. Very soon their generation would transfer power to my generation. There was no way I was going to change their views at this late stage of their life, so my energy was better spent on my own generation and on the next. And that's what I did. At my first professional job, a member of management told a racial joke in a social gathering that only include white employees. I politely asked him not to tell those kind of jokes around me, and that my great grandmother was black. (Not true as far as I know, but I wanted to shake him up.) He looked at my fair skin and blond hair and I could see the question marks dancing across his brain. I don't care if he believe me or not. It made him think twice before he just assumed that a whole room of white adults were as racist as he was.

In fifteen years or less, Paula Dean will be dead. She has already lost her public credibility and stage. But all this persecution is making her a martyr for the younger racists, which is just going to perpetuate it. Her empire is crumbling. The media needs to let it go before we make racism fashionable again in a certain segment of the population.

Short period of time? Really dude? It took a lot longer than 50-60 years of struggling. I'm talking over 400 years. And we still have a long way to go. These legal documents still crack me up. Everybody is some kind of "American". African American, Asian American, Native American, and the list goes on. I'm still waiting on "European American", when is that going to be added to the list? We haven't come a long way. Race is still an issue, and white folks TODAY are still the ones benefiting from all the oppression and bullshit they put us through.

And today it's the same shit different toilet.

I've had the same exact experiences. I find it funny that you chose to invoke a black great grandmother. I understand your goal, but racist jokes shouldn't be acceptable whether you are in the presence of someone of that race or not. Being in a room full of people of your own race shouldn't give you a pass to be racist. I do applaud you for speaking up. So many won't. It's uncomfortable to be in that situation, but it's important to say something. Most the time, I just tell people to not say those things in my presence. If they choose to be racist elsewhere, they are adults in a free nation and are free to do as they choose. I'm giving them notice not to start a fight.

lol

Absolutely there are biases againt Southern accents and presuppositions about the people who have them. That doesn't mean it's racism. It's more like regional prejudices and classism.

To say it's not racism doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It just means that this particular prejudice doesn't fall within the definition of racism, and calling it racism when it isn't can be a dialogue-stopper.

Indeed, MysticCat. Thank you for the clarification and elucidation. Again you have read my mind and expressed my thoughts succinctly.

Oh for fuck's sake.

Amen. Life is hard. Wah, wah, wah, wah.

I figure that since my great grandmomma who spent all her 98 years in the heart of Dixie and even knew people who fought in the Civil War could realize the horrible wrongs committed and went on to work in the civil rights movement, then there is no excuse for someone of Miss Paula's generation to continue to be this way. It's sad to say there are people who will still be racist and say horrible things in nonmixed company but I for one will give them a piece of my mind when they do!

Maybe you should find another thing to study since I guess you aren't too fortunate in the brains department if you really believe this is even comparable!

I am Black and I approve of this message.