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A New York Times guest essay trashed the American South on Monday, telling liberal readers that all the "awful" stereotypes about the region are true and urging them to come down and command change in red states.
"All the tropes about how awful the South is — governed by thoughtless ideologues, fury-soaked and gun-littered — they’re all true, but these aren’t the only truths that hold in this tragic, broken, history-haunted place," contributing opinion writer Margaret Renkl asserted.
Greeting her readers from the "Medieval stronghold" of the American South, Renkl, who lives in Nashville, Tenn., paints the region as a place where Republican legislators have "perfected the art" of voter suppression and gerrymandered blue cities into "irrelevance."
Yes, things are "every bit as bad as you’ve heard," according to the writer, but without a revolutionary shift in political demographics, they could be so much worse.
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An image of the entrance to the New York Times building in New York City NY. (DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)
"Come help us grow," Renkl beckoned her liberal audience.
The writer urged readers to flood their Republican statehouses with "constituent concerns." Such a move cannot be done by empathetic social media posts from the comfort of blue states, but will rather only lead to success with in-person protests and grassroots action, she argued.
"To legislators, the only opinion that matters is the opinion held by the people who vote in their districts. If you want to change Joe Manchin’s mind about climate change, you’ll need to move to West Virginia," Renkl noted.
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Extruded map of the United States of America with states borders on national flag background. Creative 3D render. (iStock)
Describing the South as a place "merrily" slashing rights, ignoring the realities of climate change, and dead-set on building a "Christian theocracy," Renkl admitted that it’s not all bad. The South has the best barbecue, great storytelling, amazing music, and a healthy dose of Southern hospitality, she wrote, but the politics desperately need change, and there are "mean, ignorant people" making life a "living hell" for everyone.
She admitted she once left, "determined never to come back," and yet she returned.
"It might seem like the entire region has been transformed by its mendacious leaders into the ninth circle of hell, but there are reasons to believe it’s not too late for us. We are fighting for our lives here, and we could use your help. Come on down, and help us throw the despots out," Renkl concluded.
Democrats and the media have heightened their rhetoric on red states since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, often criticizing the lack of restrictions in comparison to blue states. In addition, a number of prominent networks and politicians have painted Republican-led states as authoritarian, and determined to remove rights from their citizens. Georgia, for instance, attracted national attention for its 2021 voting overhaul that President Biden and other Democrats likened to Jim Crow, but the state has since seen record turnout in its most recent primary elections.
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Last month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. demanded that the government put abortion clinics on federal land in red states in order to combat strict abortion laws.
In December, MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson urged the Biden administration to send the government to Republican states in order to execute a "federal takeover." MSNBC analyst Claire McCaskill also engaged in incendiary rhetoric against red states, claiming their governments would "empower" citizens to "round up" people that appear foreign.
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