The reinvention of the American South

By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer
MAY 28, 2016

... the movement also concerns a quiet recognition that heritage can, in fact, be hate in a society where increasingly, as North Carolina historian David Goldfield says, “diversity is not just accepted, but expected.”

And it is not only the Confederate flag. Despite the backlash to same-sex marriage and transgenderism rippling across the South, there is the sense that, beneath the politics, the people have shifted significantly. In North Carolina, for example, only 36 percent of residents support the new law that bans transgender people from using the bathroom they wish, according to a Public Policy Polling poll.

The transition might be uneasy, and the support for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender (LGBT) shallow, but there is an acknowledgment that society has changed. In the words of Adam Grogan, a retired Marine and Southern Baptist from Rockmart, Ga., "We have other things to worry about" ...

“It used to be that Southern cities reflected the countryside, and Southern cities were places where segregation actually began, the places where white supremacy was held onto very strongly,” adds Mr. Goldfield, the historian. “Southern cities are now breaking away from those conservative traditions, creating a tremendous gap between urban and rural areas” ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0528/The-reinvention-of-the-American-South