From The New York Times:
Hey Parler, My Blue City Isn't Turning Red
Nashville may be having an identity crisis. But our moral commitment to equality will never change.
Margaret Renkl:
Hey Parler, My Blue City Isn't Turning Red
Nashville may be having an identity crisis. But our moral commitment to equality will never change.
...In addition to its regressive tax structure, it's the state's politics that have made Tennessee so attractive to Parler and its ilk: A Vanderbilt University poll conducted last spring found that 71 percent of Tennessee Republicans and 30 percent of Tennessee independents still believe Joe Biden stole the 2020 election. No wonder that Tennessee, like Florida and Texas, has become a huge hub for misinformation.
If you're the kind of person who would join a social-media site where American citizens planned a violent raid on the Capitol, what's not to love about a state where one county's juvenile court can send to jail nearly half of all children brought before it, most of them Black (as Nashville's NPR affiliate, WPLN, pointed out in a yearlong investigation in partnership with Pro Publica)? What's not to love about a state where a church that uses semiautomatic rifles as part of its worship services is building a new training center and spiritual retreat — a church whose leaders were actually at the Capitol on Jan. 6?
But what Mr. Farmer seems not to know is that Nashville is not like Tennessee. We're surrounded on all sides by red counties, but here in Nashville we don't chant, "Build that wall." We cherish and protect immigrants. We don't march because we want to overthrow the government. We march because Black Lives Matter. We march because we believe in science, and we believe in women's autonomy. We march with Pride because L.G.B.T.Q. and nonbinary people are beloved members of the community.
You don't have to take my word for this. Look at the numbers: Joe Biden won Davidson County in 2020 with almost 65 percent of the vote, "the highest percentage of the city's votes since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944," Clay Risen pointed out in The Times in August. It's also greater than the margin by which Donald Trump won Tennessee... (continues)
If you're the kind of person who would join a social-media site where American citizens planned a violent raid on the Capitol, what's not to love about a state where one county's juvenile court can send to jail nearly half of all children brought before it, most of them Black (as Nashville's NPR affiliate, WPLN, pointed out in a yearlong investigation in partnership with Pro Publica)? What's not to love about a state where a church that uses semiautomatic rifles as part of its worship services is building a new training center and spiritual retreat — a church whose leaders were actually at the Capitol on Jan. 6?
But what Mr. Farmer seems not to know is that Nashville is not like Tennessee. We're surrounded on all sides by red counties, but here in Nashville we don't chant, "Build that wall." We cherish and protect immigrants. We don't march because we want to overthrow the government. We march because Black Lives Matter. We march because we believe in science, and we believe in women's autonomy. We march with Pride because L.G.B.T.Q. and nonbinary people are beloved members of the community.
You don't have to take my word for this. Look at the numbers: Joe Biden won Davidson County in 2020 with almost 65 percent of the vote, "the highest percentage of the city's votes since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944," Clay Risen pointed out in The Times in August. It's also greater than the margin by which Donald Trump won Tennessee... (continues)
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ReplyDeleteI sometimes do think that it is important to realize that one simple thing such as the majority vote in a state represents how that state is as a whole. While I do agree, there are some downright horrible and nonexclusive parts of Tennessee in almost every aspect, Nashville really doesn't represent that aspect. Nashville is a huge melting pot for a huge amount of religions, political beliefs, ethnicities, orientations etc. It is almost unfair to target Nashville when explaining the negative aspects of the state of Tennessee because Nashville is probably the most diverse part of it.
The 'blue city' may not 'turn red', but I would keep a close eye as the policies and tactics of those of the majority potentially turn the area purple - ever closer to tipping the scales towards a less blue dot and by extension less 'blue' representation. That would definitely test the validity of Renkl's claims on the charter of the city.
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ReplyDeleteWhen the 2020 election was happening, I along with many others watched as states flipped between blue and red. What I noticed in doing so, was that southern states such as tennessee and georgia were mainly red. The main blue areas tended to be large cities, like nashville and atlanta. I think it is interesting to see how diversity in a central area can affect a state as a whole.