In America, there’s no such thing as a ‘sundown town,’ where black people aren’t safe at night. So why are people using the natural disaster to claim otherwise?
There's one thing Vice President Harris says that I whole-heartedly agree with: be unburdened by what has been. At some point you have to let the past go and make the most of the world as it is today.
Interesting reporting but you should clarify in your headline what your investigation showed: a minority, fringe faction among liberals believes "sundown towns" still exist and an even tinier faction believes hurricane Helene was "divine retribution."
The vast majority of liberals don't join in the beliefs of these fringe groups.
And the vast, vast majority of non-liberals don't follow "Q Anon" or support Project 2025 or most other whack conspiracies attributed to them by the left, but you'd never know that.
Wait a minnit! Only racist MAGA hillbillies are supposed to be conspiracy lovers, because their brains are too small to grasp Science and Reason! Now you fid'na tell me that the jet set who deliberately fly over "flyover states" have unsubstantiated paranoid superstitions about the natives?!?
I understand this well. I'm from the suburbs of Atlanta and go to a college with a lot of people from the Coasts and Chicago. When I mention the name Forsyth County, they immediately think of it as a sundown town. It is true that it once was one, with blacks still being driven out of the area well into the 1980s. But that was 30-40 years ago. Now Forsyth County is about 30-40% Indian immigrants (many of whom are my family friends) who have no problems coming here from expensive cities like NYC and Boston or directly from India. There are entire new neighborhoods of Indian families. These immigrants don't have any idea about the Klan and would probably be confused as to why people would have a problem with them being there. There are also smaller but significant numbers of blacks and Hispanics in the area that largely feel the same. No one seems to think that the sundown town era of the county still applies today. But the people from the wealthier coasts assume that the old era's problems still continue unchecked for decades. People of the South (and the Midwest, and the Rust Belt) have changed from the 1980s, contrary to the beliefs of coastal elites. There will always be a very small minority that harbor racist beliefs, but those people would have such scorn if they acted upon it from the majority who view that as unequivocally wrong.
I get that TikTok is influential and I understand that a lot of people are influenced by TikTok videos, but what I don't get is the assertion that a few TikTok videos - even with hundreds of thousands of views - are somehow evidence that material numbers of people believe sundown towns still exist.
Here on Substack, if you search for the top Substacks under politics you'll find nothing but far-left writing with thousands of likes and hundreds of comments reflecting far-left delusions.
And that's Substack, which many regard as "right-wing".
There are tons of these people. That's just reality.
While entire towns like this may not exist, people within them still do. Look no further than Virginia City, in my beloved state of Nevada, August 2024.
New York City would never be (has never been) considered a sundown town whereas VC was, and until just four years ago Gardnerville, NV still used its whistle, and the people in this video literally referenced a hanging tree...? 🤷🏻
Thank you, River. Having lived in and been acquainted with several of these dots on the map, I have always been shocked that anyone would vilify these towns with such a smear. I was floored once when a Black woman from the West Coast told me she was afraid to drive across the West to get to Denver because of the racism in "those places." MSM has done an outstanding job with its brainwashing. I appreciate your efforts. Great job.
I think most of us on here probably would never have heard of this tik tok trend if you had not brought it to our attention and we would be happier for it.
Seriously, this is the article you decide to publish on Helene? I'm in Greenville, SC and no one gives a rats ass about tik tok speculation. Find out why no one is talking about the absolute devastation and loss of life in WNC and why it's getting little to no press and very little organization and help except by locals and churches helping. That is newsworthy. Not this bullshit. This article is an absolute insult. If you want to dig in on the possibility that the small Appalachia towns are being ignored because no one cares, that's a worthy article. This is a waste of my time and a pointless redirection of peoples attention from actual news and needs.
I'm very sorry that you are going through this hardship. I can speculate as to why the tragedy is being largely ignored by the media and the current administration. Because unlike Hurricane Katrina, it's viewed as affecting only poor white Appalachians and more to the point, "Trump supporters." Same as East Palestine, Ohio.
In defense of the article's author and TFP, I think they are trying to bring to light a certain faction on the far left (which I, for one, had never heard of and happily so), and their attitudes about the communities you refer to in your comment. Given that there is little daylight between the diseased worldview of the social media communities described here and that of the MSM and the Biden/Harris administration, I don't think it's irrelevant.
I have been in many of the towns highlighted on the map as dangerous to blacks after dark. While there are always crackpots who espouse aberrant theories, the sad aspect is the support from the mainstream media, who know better but pursue their ideological campaign.
What is NPR? An organization lead by a woman whose experience was with a government sponsored propaganda operation in Europe. Now she is making NPR resemble or exceed it.
Truly, we need a government of President, House and Senate that is not Democrat.
Just when I thought I had heard of every wack racial hysteria myth there was, I find out I was wrong.
OK, quick check of that map using the 2020 census. The two closest "probable" sundown towns near me are the towns of Mt. Ranier, MD and Brentwood, MD.
Mt. Ranier: 38% Hispanic, 40% Black, 15% White
Brentwood: 51% Hispanic, 28% Black, 14% White
Bah, why do they even host this map. Those two neighborhoods have been minority White for more than a decade.
There's one thing Vice President Harris says that I whole-heartedly agree with: be unburdened by what has been. At some point you have to let the past go and make the most of the world as it is today.
Karl Marx, "move forward into a future unburdened by what has been." . I wonder where she got this quote .
Interesting reporting but you should clarify in your headline what your investigation showed: a minority, fringe faction among liberals believes "sundown towns" still exist and an even tinier faction believes hurricane Helene was "divine retribution."
The vast majority of liberals don't join in the beliefs of these fringe groups.
And the vast, vast majority of non-liberals don't follow "Q Anon" or support Project 2025 or most other whack conspiracies attributed to them by the left, but you'd never know that.
Prove it. The far-left seems obsessed with race and calling Southerners racist.
NOLA will still be a liberal S*hole when the people of western NC have built back their community. The difference between the two will be stark.
Wait a minnit! Only racist MAGA hillbillies are supposed to be conspiracy lovers, because their brains are too small to grasp Science and Reason! Now you fid'na tell me that the jet set who deliberately fly over "flyover states" have unsubstantiated paranoid superstitions about the natives?!?
BlueAnon seems to really want to put Qanon to shame. They are doing a great job.
I understand this well. I'm from the suburbs of Atlanta and go to a college with a lot of people from the Coasts and Chicago. When I mention the name Forsyth County, they immediately think of it as a sundown town. It is true that it once was one, with blacks still being driven out of the area well into the 1980s. But that was 30-40 years ago. Now Forsyth County is about 30-40% Indian immigrants (many of whom are my family friends) who have no problems coming here from expensive cities like NYC and Boston or directly from India. There are entire new neighborhoods of Indian families. These immigrants don't have any idea about the Klan and would probably be confused as to why people would have a problem with them being there. There are also smaller but significant numbers of blacks and Hispanics in the area that largely feel the same. No one seems to think that the sundown town era of the county still applies today. But the people from the wealthier coasts assume that the old era's problems still continue unchecked for decades. People of the South (and the Midwest, and the Rust Belt) have changed from the 1980s, contrary to the beliefs of coastal elites. There will always be a very small minority that harbor racist beliefs, but those people would have such scorn if they acted upon it from the majority who view that as unequivocally wrong.
Spot on, says this native ATLien.
30-40% Indian-Americans is probably an overstatement, but not far from the truth.
Here are the 2020 demos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsyth_County%2C_Georgia#Demographics
I get that TikTok is influential and I understand that a lot of people are influenced by TikTok videos, but what I don't get is the assertion that a few TikTok videos - even with hundreds of thousands of views - are somehow evidence that material numbers of people believe sundown towns still exist.
Here on Substack, if you search for the top Substacks under politics you'll find nothing but far-left writing with thousands of likes and hundreds of comments reflecting far-left delusions.
And that's Substack, which many regard as "right-wing".
There are tons of these people. That's just reality.
when the supply of racism fails to meet the demand for racism...
As a noted philosopher observed, many such cases!
While entire towns like this may not exist, people within them still do. Look no further than Virginia City, in my beloved state of Nevada, August 2024.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpeRjkJKgkA
There are racists in New York City. Your point is?
New York City would never be (has never been) considered a sundown town whereas VC was, and until just four years ago Gardnerville, NV still used its whistle, and the people in this video literally referenced a hanging tree...? 🤷🏻
The residue remains.
Thank you, River. Having lived in and been acquainted with several of these dots on the map, I have always been shocked that anyone would vilify these towns with such a smear. I was floored once when a Black woman from the West Coast told me she was afraid to drive across the West to get to Denver because of the racism in "those places." MSM has done an outstanding job with its brainwashing. I appreciate your efforts. Great job.
These liberal conspiracy theorists have forgotten hurricanes are inherently and systematically racists.
I think most of us on here probably would never have heard of this tik tok trend if you had not brought it to our attention and we would be happier for it.
Seriously, this is the article you decide to publish on Helene? I'm in Greenville, SC and no one gives a rats ass about tik tok speculation. Find out why no one is talking about the absolute devastation and loss of life in WNC and why it's getting little to no press and very little organization and help except by locals and churches helping. That is newsworthy. Not this bullshit. This article is an absolute insult. If you want to dig in on the possibility that the small Appalachia towns are being ignored because no one cares, that's a worthy article. This is a waste of my time and a pointless redirection of peoples attention from actual news and needs.
I'm very sorry that you are going through this hardship. I can speculate as to why the tragedy is being largely ignored by the media and the current administration. Because unlike Hurricane Katrina, it's viewed as affecting only poor white Appalachians and more to the point, "Trump supporters." Same as East Palestine, Ohio.
In defense of the article's author and TFP, I think they are trying to bring to light a certain faction on the far left (which I, for one, had never heard of and happily so), and their attitudes about the communities you refer to in your comment. Given that there is little daylight between the diseased worldview of the social media communities described here and that of the MSM and the Biden/Harris administration, I don't think it's irrelevant.
Well said.
I have been in many of the towns highlighted on the map as dangerous to blacks after dark. While there are always crackpots who espouse aberrant theories, the sad aspect is the support from the mainstream media, who know better but pursue their ideological campaign.
What is NPR? An organization lead by a woman whose experience was with a government sponsored propaganda operation in Europe. Now she is making NPR resemble or exceed it.
Truly, we need a government of President, House and Senate that is not Democrat.
One can easily equate Democrat with Death Wish.