Our Kind of Yankee: Sept. 11 reminded Southerners of what we admire about New York.

Opinion Journal ^ | 05/21/2002 | JOHN SHELTON REED

[Pokey78]

In the days after September 11, when Americans were watching a lot of television, many of us heard a Texas man-in-the-street tell a network interviewer something like, "Being a Texan or New Yorker just isn't very important right now. We're all Americans." Soon after that, we heard about some South Carolina middle-school students who raised the money to buy a truck for some Brooklyn firemen who lost theirs (along with seven comrades) at the World Trade Center.

[Texasforever]

A bit too analytical but a good piece. IMO it just boils down to "grace under fire". The City of New York and it people showed that grace in spades. That is admired no matter what region of the country it comes from.

[austinTparty]

Houstonians Austinites, for some reason, don't have as bad a case of what the Australians call "cultural cringe": On the rare occasions when they think of New Yorkers at all, they're likely to feel sorry for them because they're not Texans.

Hehe ping... ;-)

[roachie]

Hank Jr said it best when he sang in America Will Survive: "There's no more Yankees and Rebels this time, just one united people that stand behind America, can survive." I agree with that sentiment.

[eddie willers]

Great post.
I've only been to NYC once in my adult life. Parked at the Port Authority, rode downtown to an old pub. (6th Street?.....McSorely's?) and found the people to be warm and friendly.

The author is right.
Its the "TV" New York we don't like.
The real one's OK.

[Clemenza]

Very good. It has never ceased to amaze me how so many lower middle class Italian and Irish-Americans in the New York area look down on southerner and think "all of youse tawk stoopid."

Let's also not forget that the south is ahead of much of the north on racial issues. I have never been to a place as segregated as the Long Island of my youth.

[JulieRNR21]

I was born & raised in NYC....to a working class northern Republican 'red neck' family....and I have lived in Texas, California, MA & now FL....I love being a Southerner by choice!

UNITED WE STAND! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

[general_re]

I have never been to a place as segregated as the Long Island of my youth.

Funny, you and I traveled different directions - I grew up in the south and went north, you the other way. I wish I could remember who said it, but someone once said that white Southerners hated black folks as a race, but liked them all as individuals, whereas white Northerners liked black folks as a race, but hated them all individually ;)

[x]

I wonder whether Reed recognizes that he's staked way too much on the North-South distinction. Pretty much everything that he's said about New York and the South could be said about New York and Wisconsin, New York and Nebraska, or New York and Montana.

If you want to be a cosmopolitan you have to find a cosmopolis to identify with. If you want to be a provincial you have to identify with your province. But it's "provinciality" itself that's important, not the particular region or locality. It's not as though rural North Carolina, rural Ohio or rural Louisiana and rural Oregon are at daggers drawn. Or as thought there is some uniquely Southern or Western essence that distinguishes them from other country people. I don't use "provinciality" in a bad sense either. There's much of value in provincialism.

Probably, the broader point about 9/11 isn't just that a Carolinian might feel something in common with New Yorkers of the outer boroughs. I doubt this is something new for Reed. If it is, I'd worry about him and ignore his article. The broader point is that American provincials and cosmopolitans are finding that they may have things of value in common across the cultural divide. It won't last, but it is something to bear in mind.

[McGavin999]

It won't last, but it is something to bear in mind.

In a deep sense, it will always last. What will finally go away is the wonder we discovered when we remembered how much we love each other as Americans. Let's face it, we are all naturally competitive. We break up into sides on just about everything from big things like national politics right on down to small things like inter-school rivalries. It's a part of us.

Whether it's an earthquake in California or a flood in Baton Rouge for a brief moment in time we let down our tough guy stance and rush to the aid of our countrymen. We're like a big Italian family, always fighting and bickering, but GOD HELP anyone from outside who even attempts to hurt "one of us".

Face it, we just love to fight. We're Americans.

[Texasforever]

Southerners do well to carry concern for the fiscal health of New York. It's been paying the south's way for two centuries now, going into the thir

Look friend fight the civil war someplace else. That is unless you have some oil under Manhattan you have been hiding for a rainy day.

[AnnaZ]

A (Southern) FReeper (don't recall who) put it rather perfectly shortly after 9/11: "They may be Yankees, but they're our Yankees."

I loved that.

[newwahoo]

That was a pretty dopey thing to write, especially on a thread about Americans coming together in a time of trouble and learning to appreciate our little regional quirks.

As a proud Brooklyn resident I totally repudiate that comment of yours and I'm very grateful for the support my city has received.

[Liberty Belle]

Ping

[dixie sass]

I haven't been as an adult but know people who have. They say one thing about New York - "a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." Someday, I'm going to New York...

[Chunga]

New York is a great city, due in no small part to periodic bailouts by the taxpayers of flyover country.

I say it's worth it.