Death of a stereotype?
Investigators have determined that a census worker founding hanging in a cemetery committed suicide.
There was much speculation that he had been murdered because he was in Kentucky. The usual suspects used his death to promote their own stereotypes about the people who live in Kentucky specifically and the south in general.
Now those stereotypes have proven to be wrong, but the damage those cretins did will live on in the minds of those whose opinion of the area were poisoned by their false words.
"That's a horrible thing that's happened to that fellow," said community activist Doug Abner. "But like most Clay countians, I feel like we get a bad rap. It's just a stereotypical thing."
One would hope that people would learn from this kind of easily avoidable prejudice by simply not making assumptions about people based on where they live.
Then again, we are talking about hardened racists. While we can hope that they change we shouldn't hold our breath waiting.
There was much speculation that he had been murdered because he was in Kentucky. The usual suspects used his death to promote their own stereotypes about the people who live in Kentucky specifically and the south in general.
Now those stereotypes have proven to be wrong, but the damage those cretins did will live on in the minds of those whose opinion of the area were poisoned by their false words.
"That's a horrible thing that's happened to that fellow," said community activist Doug Abner. "But like most Clay countians, I feel like we get a bad rap. It's just a stereotypical thing."
One would hope that people would learn from this kind of easily avoidable prejudice by simply not making assumptions about people based on where they live.
Then again, we are talking about hardened racists. While we can hope that they change we shouldn't hold our breath waiting.