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Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) went on MSNBC on Wednesday to celebrate strict new gun laws passed by the New York State legislature 
and signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week. In doing so, he noted that New York is more liberal than most of the country and that some regions, particularly the South, have “cultures that we have to overcome” in order to enact stricter national gun laws.
“This is not Constitutional rights, this is common sense,” Rangel said, referring to new gun laws. “We know that those people that incorporated the right to bear arms was not talking about the slaughter of children that’s happened in Newtown, Connecticut.”
“Do you think that New York and what has been done in this state could be used as a role model for other states that would like to enact something of New York’s model?” MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts asked.
“I hope so,” Rangel replied. “New York is different and more progressive than a lot of areas in other states, and some of the Southern areas have cultures that we have to overcome.”
Rangel is not the first to question the culture of the South. In a recent New Yorker article, writer George Packer wrote about how the culture of the South is different from much of the rest of the country:
For a century after losing the Civil War, the South was America’s own colonial backwater—“not quite a nation within a nation, but the next thing to it,” W. J. Cash wrote in his classic 1941 study, “The Mind of the South.” From Tyler, Texas, to Roanoke, Virginia, Southern places felt unlike the rest of the country. The region was an American underbelly in the semi-tropical heat; the manners were softer, the violence swifter, the commerce slower, the thinking narrower, the past closer.
It would seem that much of the culture of the South has remained stagnant, and now starkly contrasts the culture of the rest of America.
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shouldofpickyourowncotton
January 30, 2013 at 9:00 pm
Congress man Rangel is right about the dirty south who hold tight to their guns and religion a quite odd mix full with racism and hyprocrisy.NORTHERNERS are unfriendly yet accept you as you are and SOUTHERNERS are friendly but don’t accept you as you are especially if u not milky white.What a strange irony.
Rod
January 19, 2013 at 1:15 pm
As a (Black) Texan, I have to take issue with some of Rangel’s comments. Although I agree with the ban of assault weapons and ammunition, I don’t consider his state of New York any better or more enlightened than anywhere else in the country. He is in no position to strut around talking about how NY is more “progressive” than anyplace else. This reflects the attitude that many New Yorkers carry that believes anyone who isn’t from New York is a country bumpkin and couldn’t possibly be just as or even smarter than the average New Yorker. The problem is most New Yorkers don’t realize that they are the enigma compared to the rest of the country. New Yorkers are arrogant enough to believe that they are in the center of the universe. So much so that a large percentage never bother to leave the state. Their prospective of anyplace outside of New York comes strictly from what they see on the news and television. They know very little about the cultural complexities of life anywhere else. I get tired of visiting northern states and people feeling sorry for me or thinking they can take advantage of me when I say I’m from Texas. They even ask if I have a horse and listen to country music.
Black New Yorkers have to understand that they are really in no better position than their Texas counterparts. Possibly even worse. The overt racism in NYC is off the charts. Unemployment is at 50% for black men. Stop and frisk is a tragedy. The police use black men for target practice. Gentrification is pushing black folks out of affordable housing in Rangel’s own district, and Rangel wants to talk about how progressive NY is? Please! Malcolm X had it right. ANytime you are south of Canada you are in the south.
honkie shelton
January 18, 2013 at 11:46 am
Don’t people get it? As a southerner, I will speak for others,white and black.We are a proud culture and we do not want to be the same as any other part of the country. We do not want to hear from Yankee politicians telling us that their way is the right way to live in this country.We dont like you up north, we dont like you moving south. Mind your business !
Barbara
January 18, 2013 at 12:55 pm
You don’t speak for me, a Black Southerner.
George Packer analysis is correct.
White Southern ‘culture’ is a mental hang-over from slavery.
black jones
January 17, 2013 at 4:00 pm
I agree with that chittlin remark…..what a negative smell but some perfumes get me too. smile!!!!!
black jones
January 17, 2013 at 4:00 pm
I agree with that chittlin remark…..what a negative smell but some perfumes get me too. smile!!!!!