Is racism in the southern U.S. different than other parts of the country?

@LeopoldBloom We lived in Savannah a while, and two things really stood out.

One wes that what seemed to be a very large majority of African Americans there were very difficult or impossible to understand, to the point where we could not get service at some places because of the difference in using language and, likewise, while working there I had, sadly, a LOT of trouble helping them for the same reason. We had lived, before, in what certainly felt like the deep South, on Louisiana/Arkansas border, where beonics is spoken, and we came to understand it fairly easily, but in Savannah we found it to be on an entirely different level.

Second thing that surprised us was at Fourth of July celebrations our national anthem was replaced by "Dixie."

We found it to be a whole 'nother world.

@Nelladell Interesting. I'm not sure when you were here. I haven't ever had trouble understanding Black people. I remember one time shortly after I got here when I answered the phone at work, and it was a white guy from rural Georgia. I couldn't understand a word. I had to give the phone to a co-worker who was a native Georgian. She ribbed me about that for years.

I've been to a few 4th of July events, and have never heard "Dixie." There are enough people here from elsewhere who may not approve of that. I also saw more Confederate flags in California than I've seen here.

@LeopoldBloomIt may well not be happening now. It seems the closest I can pin it down was 90s. At least I know that much. The celebration I spoke of was on Tybee.

@Nelladell Savannah changed a lot after Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil came out. That book brought a lot of people and more development here. In the book, the city was presented as very insular and more connected to the past. It's not that way anymore.

@LeopoldBloom THAT'S WHEN IT WAS!! We lived on Tybee Island when Eastwood shut off the only road going out there, and we couldn't get home. Our daughter worked with the wife of the first cop on the scene of the murder depicted in the movie.

Am sorry to hear that it lost its uniqueness. Well, it can't lose it all. Not unless it loses its architecture.

Is Lady Chablis still working?

@Nelladell Savannah is still unique, at least the downtown area. The city takes pains to ensure that new construction and repairs don't conflict with the ambiance.

Lady Chablis passed away in 2016, but I believe she performed right up to the end.

@LeopoldBloom oooh no. I'm sorry she is gone.

But glad the architecture is intact. And the cemetery. I was sad that they had to move the statue from the cemetery.

@Nelladell Bonaventure still looks the same. They had to remove the Bird Girl because people were messing with it.

@LeopoldBloom Yes, I remember seeing it downtown. But did they have to move it from there, also?

@Nelladell It is downtown in the Jepson Center.

@LeopoldBloom If I ever knew, I don't remember the Jepso Center. But I take it that it is gone from the park.

@Nelladell The Jepson Center is part of the Telfair museum, and was built in 2006.

@LeopoldBloomAh after my time. Thank you.

@Nelladell It's a great building. I used to work across the street from it.

@Nelladell There are places around Georgia and South Carolina coastal areas where people still speak “Gullah”, a very old patois going back to the slave days. There’s a similar French based Creole dialect where my family was originally from in Louisiana. I’m guessing that’s what you were hearing spoken.

@bijouxbroussard I see. Thank you.