From: Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Date: Sun Apr 23 2000 - 21:42:58 MDT
QueeneMUSE@aol.com wrote:
> Just for the record, I am not, have never been and never will be a redneck.
>
> PS: 'Redneck' implies backwards ways, blatent racism and violent behavior
> against gays and hippies.
OK but not necessarily. My family tradition has it that we were the
original rednecks: so named by urban dwellers because the coal miners
of West Virginia would wear red neckerchiefs [not so different from
the way boy scouts wear them today] with blue coveralls as they
descended into the bowels of the earth to retrieve the coal that
fueled the industrial revolution. These simple hard-working proletariate
were thus labelled red-necks, and they carried this derisive title
with pride.
Racism would not be part of their repertoir, as there were men of
every race among the coal miners, in fact they were far more accepting
of the black man than any of their city counterparts. *All* of these
men were black at the end of the day.
As for the other charges: backward? Probably. Violent behavior
against gays and hippies? Well, the violent behavior part probably
works, but I doubt they would necessarily specialize in gays and
hippies, as the original rednecks most likely never encountered
either of such species. spike
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