Once a weakness, low-skilled workers who get paid little have become the Deep South’s strength

[tularetom]

7. Yeah, I know all about stereotypes

I spent the first ten years of my life living with my grandparents in Tennessee while my mom and dad served in WWII and then while my dad attended Western Kentucky University.

I have first cousins in Logan and Sumner counties, TN and I've talked stereotypes with them for years if not decades. We're all in our 70's and 80's now so we don't see as much of each other we used to (I'm in CA).

My two male cousins are prosperous farmers who consider the willingness of the less well to do white folks in their area to work for subsistence level wages to be essential to the success of their businesses. They see nothing wrong with the phenomenon, and although they aren't racists (one of them has a black daughter in law), they both admit that they prefer white workers because they believe the whites are easier to control and they don't complain about the crappy pay.

Their sister is a retired university professor who thinks her brothers are both troglodytes who are helping to keep the entire region poor and backward.

So yes, you can call it a stereotype, but your neighbors are acknowledging it and some are even prospering from it. I'm glad to see these workers narrowly voted to join the union and I hope it proves beneficial to them but the closeness of the vote tells me that a lot of workers haven't caught on yet.