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Is it fair or reasonable for persons from other regions to assume that if individuals in the U.S. southeast refer to it as "Dixie" they are racist?
I have a friend who has become involved in just such a controversy; that is, being accused of being racist based solely on referring to the SE U.S. as "Dixie." This is someone I know to be the farthest thing from a racist possible.
I'd love to be able to refute that accusation based on your understanding of what is connoted by the word "Dixie" in reference to that area by a local resident.
The etymology of the word “Dixie†is murky, with a few theories. Some theories are race neutral; one certainly is not.
But the etymology is not terribly relevant to the connotation in this case. There is little doubt that the popularization of the word “Dixie†as a reference to the South comes from the song. This song enjoyed its popularity primarily as an unofficial theme song of the Confederacy.
Personally, as a northerner, I don't hold that strong of an association between “Dixie†and the politics of the Confereracy. But I am not surprised that significant numbers in the South might. I would avoid using the term due to its strong association with the Confederacy and its use as an informal rallying song.
Even if its origin was neutral, it seems it is “skunked,†(as discussed in previous AWWW broadcasts) at least in the South, where the associations may be strong.
Good point. I like to think music transcends politics. But I've been calling it New Orleans jazz for decades, not for political reasons. Maybe that varies regionally as well.
The term "Negro Spiritual" was in use long after "Negro" fell away from proper use. Certain fixed expressions can persist long, long after the constituent parts fade to obscurity.
Grant responded to the email I sent of my original question. Here it is ~ Kit
"I agree with you: it's not racist to call the south Dixie. It never has been. That's not to say that some racists don't use the term. Of course they do. But so do a lot of good people like you.
Unfortunately, it's impossible to defend against a charge of racism. I'd say avoid further contact with anyone who says that it is racist: clearly they've got muddled thinking. I wouldn't want to chance being around when it came time for them to, say, put out a fire....
Best wishes,
Grant Barrett
Co-host, "A Way with Words""
Perhaps I skirted the heart of your question with my response. I fully agree with Grant that a person's use of the word “Dixie†absolutely does not mark that person as a racist. As for how you change your behavior toward a person who is offended by its use, I suggest it very much depends on how important the offended person is to you.
The Dictionary of Modern American Usage (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998) says this:
When a word undergoes a marked change from one use to another . . . it's likely to be the subject of dispute. Some people (Group 1) insist on the traditional use; others (Group 2) embrace the new use. . . . Any use of [the word] is likely to distract some readers. The new use seems illiterate to Group 1; the old use seems odd to Group 2. The word has become “skunked.â€
Still, I disagree with Grant in that there is credible evidence that sensible people find “Dixie†offensive, associating the song and the term with racism, likely in its use mentioned above. This is why I might consider the term “skunked.â€
Article Title: George Bush is whistling ‘Dixie.' (racism in politics)
Article Title: Away, Dixie! (racism) (Editorial)
WSJ …'doesn't even need to dog-whistle Dixie in order to be making appeals to racism'
While I don't consider the word racist, your ruling on the word, and the possibility that it is "skunked," would depend on how credible you think people are who DO have that association.
I've looked up the word in all of my American dictionaries, and none of them caution me about its use. Is that typical of a "skunked" word? Some dictionaries explain that it was popularized in the minstrel song "Dixie's Land," in 1859. Am I supposed to be smart and sensitive enough to figure out that a word that was popularized in a minstrel song 150 years ago should not be used today? Or is the word skunked because it refers to the previously slave-holding Confederate South?
If it is a controversial, skunked word, then why is it still in such common use? As I said in a previous post, there is Dixieland music. When my son was in high school he was a member of a nationally ranked Dixieland band. Dixie Cup is a brand name for the ubiquitous paper cups we use. These disposable paper cups, previously called "Health Kups," were renamed Dixie Cups after Dixie Dolls, back in 1919. Of course now there are also Dixie plates, bowls, knives, forks, and spoons. There is the Winn-Dixie chain of supermarkets and the popular children's book which was made into a movie, Because of Winn-Dixie. There are schools, school districts, and colleges named Dixie, as well as school sports teams. There is a county and a national forest named Dixie. Dolly Parton has a show called the Dixie Stampede. There is the popular singing group Dixie Chicks, and though they offended Bush supporters it wasn't because of their name. Anyway, y'all get the idea. If a word that is "skunked" can enjoy such popular usage, I'm wondering what it really means to be skunked?
I appreciate and am enjoying this discussion. It seems that what "Dixie" means comes down to a difference in opinions among folks. Up to now, I haven't been familiar with the term "skunked", but I'm finding that an interesting sidelight to the discussion.
I'm conducting an informal, completely unscientific research "project" among my acquaintances as to their understanding of what the word connotes. I plan on continuing at least until I find someone who has a different understanding of it than I do. Thus far, it has yielded several lively discussions. The few folks I've asked have yet to define it as a negative or racist term.
Pretty much the majority of items I've come across online match up with my feeling that it simply means "the South." Of course, to others it does not; I just haven't found one yet.
Meanwhile, I'm fleshing out its meaning which to me includes: many friendly, hospitable people--as well as the occasional bigot; hot, sunny days dealt with by wearing big-brimmed hats, long sleeves, and sipping plenty of iced tea or sour mash whiskey; catfish or barbecue dinners; drawn-out vowels, etc., etc.
Regarding the "skunked" business, I'm personally a rather literal and hard-headed gal who would find it anathema to surrender the term to those who would have it be understood as automatically an ugly, pejorative term. Of course, I would have to respect anyone else's understanding if it differed from mine. I would hope that attitude would be reciprocated. We shall see.
I hope you continue to provide updates about your "research" on this skunked word! I hope that someone who is knowledgeable about skunked words would say more about it. Is there an official skunked word list somewhere? How many people have to feel offended by a word before it's skunked? Are there degrees of how stinky a skunked word is, and if there are degrees, how stinky, on a scale of one to ten, is Dixie? Is skunking a word essentially the same thing as being PC (politically correct)?
Unfortunately, no one has yet addressed my point that if Dixie is in fact a skunked word, why then is it so ubiquitous? Is there a movement to take this word out of ubiquity and put it into obscurity?
I also look forward to the result of the survey, and I will doubtless find it interesting. Unfortunately, I suspect the scope of any one person's acquaintances might not provide a broad enough cross section along various categories of potential significance (geography, socio-economic, ethnic, religious, to name a few) to provide convincing results.
As I said, I am a northerner, and I don't find it offensive. But I didn't grow up hearing stories of how the term and song were used in association with mistreatment of my family. It seems some have.
The story of the song that popularized the word is interesting, too. The guy who claimed credit for the song, Dan Emmett, composed it for his minstrel show. But he was not happy about the South adopting it. A quote:
If I had known to what use they [Southerners] were going to put my song, I will be damned if I'd have written it.
Was Emmett mad because he was a Northerner and the South was using his song? How did Emmett, as a blackface entertainer, feel about slavery? Emmett's original lyrics to Dixie are certainly racist and disrespectful, but did he intend them as satire?
Here's a quote from President Lincoln:
I have always though that Dixie was one of the best tunes I ever heard. I had heard our adversaries had attempted to appropriate it. I insisted yesterday that we had fairly captured it.
Stuff that into your corncob pipe and smoke it!
It didn't take long in my polling to get a difference in perspective from my own. I polled one person by phone today with the question, “What's the first thing that you think of when you hear the word ‘Dixie'?â€
My 66 year-old Black female Texan friend responded with “the South†which I initially took to have the same meaning as my conceptions of Dixie as simply a region and the people within it...dealing with the environment in the same ways, eating the same foods, drinking the same libations, speaking similarly. When I asked for other connections, she replied “Dixie cup†and “the song.â€
When I probed further, she said that she actually thought of: having been relegated to the back of buses; not being served in downtown restaurants or at lunch counters (except by one Middle East-born restaurateur who served everyone through a “to go†window with no seating available for anyone); and feeling the need as a child to keep others from knowing that her clothes were from two of the upscale (White-owned) stores in town and, risking, not being thought “humble†enough. When I asked her about having held back initially when I asked the question, she responded that she had formed the habit long ago of downplaying speaking of such recollections to avoid problems.
So, for her, Dixie means Jim Crow, segregation, the Confederacy, absence of freedoms–not a pleasantly experienced word for her at all.
My twenty-something White male assistant who is also a musician volunteered that he thought of “the song†and “the Confederacy.†Wish he hadn't overheard my conversation with my friend… I'm thinking she and I can talk more about this topic when we see each other again.
Glenn and samaphore, you all could join me in polling folks from your areas as well.
When I probed further, she said that she actually thought of: having been relegated to the back of buses; not being served in downtown restaurants or at lunch counters . . . So, for her, Dixie means Jim Crow, segregation, the Confederacy, absence of freedoms–not a pleasantly experienced word for her at all.
Hold on a minute, my Texan compadre. She was a 66-year-old black Texan woman who had personal experience with racism. It is almost a certainty that you would have gotten the same "results" if you had "probed further" about the South and never even mentioned Dixie. She associated Dixie with the South. She associated the South with racism. A rose is a rose, no matter what other name you give it and no matter how much it stinks.
The reason why some people find the word Dixie offensive is not mysterious. Just look at the lyrics to the song that made the word popular (and it was a minstrel song, after all). In addition, the song was adopted by the slave-holding, Confederate South. The real question today is: has this word taken on a new, non-offensive meaning over the years? Judging by its ubiquitous use, I am tempted to say yes, it has. Should we object to the use of this word? I don't know.
I think this will be my final post on this topic. It has been an interesting learning exercise.
Bottom line, a dear friend of mine has been unfairly accused of being racist for using the word "Dixie" in the course of doing valuable organizing work in the cause of peace. Though it's a familiar word, it's not a part of my own usual parlance. Instead, I usually just refer to "the South."
The lesson is that, absent actual knowledge of an individual, folks will sometimes draw erroneous conclusions based on preconceptions or assumptions (shocking!). Sometimes people will even make an accusation such as that for a reason completely different from that which is stated in order to exert power or control in a situation. I believe that is what happened here.
The take-away for me is that, OF COURSE, we must continue being vigilant about what our language is conveying to others. At the same time, we must refrain from assuming a slight or a particular attitude on the part of another without first checking it out with that person. I was naively surprised, though not shocked, to see how thin is the veneer below which lie old regional stereotypes.
I always thought Dixie referred to the part of the country that was south of the Mason-"Dixon" line (i.e. the original boundary between the slave and free states. Now, however, I think of it more in terms of the "Deep South" or perhaps the "Old South" and in that respect, it may have a negative connotation. However, the word also conveys a great deal of local pride and tradition which may not be entirely due to the myth of the ideal world of the antebellum South. That said, I also don't think I've ever heard a black person refer to the South as "Dixie". If a term is used only by one ethnic group, does that necessarily mean it should be skunked? Certainly there are words used mostly by black Americans and we don't discuss their skunkiness.
I always thought Dixie referred to the part of the country that was south of the Mason-â€Dixon†line (i.e. the original boundary between the slave and free states.
As far as referring to a region, 'Little Dixie' refers to the portion of Missouri surrounding the Missouri River. It was a strong proslavery area before the Civil War. In fact, the Civil war Battle of Lexington had the Confederate forces defending the north side of the Missouri River while the Union forces were on the south side.
Emmett
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