Mt. Airy, NC - Sunday Morning

[gounion]

This is an old piece, from 2021, where Ted Koppel went to Mt. Airy, NC for a piece for CBS Sunday Morning. It's about the town that Andy Griffith based the fictional town of Mayberry for his long-running Andy Griffith Show. He grew up in Mt. Airy. I saw the Koppel piece when it was first shown, and just came across it today and it got me thinking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZme-GsKv_g

Now, I've been to Mt. Airy. When I was working in Winston-Salem NC for several months back in the early 2000's, I took a Saturday and visited. I enjoyed myself; it was a breath of nostalgia for me. I always enjoyed watching the show, with Barney, Opie and Aunt Bee, since I was a little kid.

But, as this piece points out, it's a FANTASY. No such town as Mayberry ever existed, especially not in the south.

Now, there's NOTHING wrong with fantasy. I mean, I'm a Marvel fan. And when in Vegas last year, I went to the attraction Marvel Station, and I enjoyed it just as much, realizing it was as much a fantasy as Mt. Airy was, although I could have used a sandwich from the Snappy Cafe.

But Koppel's piece hits deep, albeit with a light touch. Mayberry was a white fantasy, completely apart from the reality of the day. People go to Mt. Airy, pretending that Mayberry DID exist, and it's simply a past we've lost, and need to find again.

But Mt. Airy was NEVER Mayberry. Mt. Airy, like the rest of the south, was a racist place to live if you were black. Mt. Airy was segregated. There were lynchings in Mt. Airy. A black woman in the piece talked about being forced to get her food to go at a local restaurant even in the 70's.

It shows there was always two Americas, white and black. I grew up in those sixties, and to me, it was a pretty idyllic time to grow up as a white kid. But even on the black side of my town in Kansas, it wasn't idyllic for a black kid. Of course, the reality of our tough world intruded into my childhood, when my aunt married a black man, and tore our extended family apart.

Koppel points that out to a few folks, and they admit the truth. Then, he talks to a group about the election and the insurrection. First, almost all of them said the election was rigged, and many of them said the insurrection was a false flag. Most all of them were Trumpers.

The one that pissed me off was the guy who was portraying Deputy Barney Fife. When they were talking about Jan 6th and the election, you could see his hatred. At that moment, he sure pissed on the grave of Deputy Fife, who would never have had that hatred on his face.

You know, these folks think they are the salt of the earth and everything good about America, but they hold the same hatred of "others" that don't see the world like they do, as their ancestors from the fifties and sixties. Maybe worse, as they resent that blacks and minorities have some power now and whites don't run everything. These folks would have been just as comfortable at Charlottesville as they are in Mt. Airy.

I thought a discussion about the reality vs. the fantasies would be an interesting one to have.

Am I the only one to ever visit Mt. Airy?

[Glennfs]

The rest of the South. I wasn't aware Boston was in the South.
In that era you would be hard pressed to find a city that wasn't racist by today's standards.
It was 68 before African Americans were permitted to do my dad's job at Goodyear. Even then they had to start out as an assistant and other than my dad none of the other operators would take on a black assistant.
I am sure the story was the same everywhere.
So let's not pick on Mayberry for not having blacks considering that 40 years later the Friends lived in New York City which evidently didn't have African Americans either.

[gounion]

The rest of the South. I wasn't aware Boston was in the South.
In that era you would be hard pressed to find a city that wasn't racist by today's standards.
It was 68 before African Americans were permitted to do my dad's job at Goodyear. Even then they had to start out as an assistant and other than my dad none of the other operators would take on a black assistant.
I am sure the story was the same everywhere.
So let's not pick on Mayberry for not having blacks considering that 40 years later the Friends lived in New York City which evidently didn't have African Americans either.

Not picking on them. I'm pointing that Mayberry NEVER WAS. Mt. Airy was a southern segregated town that had lynchings. Yes, everywhere in America was racist. Still is. The struggle continues.

[Number6]

Not picking on them. I'm pointing that Mayberry NEVER WAS. Mt. Airy was a southern segregated town that had lynchings. Yes, everywhere in America was racist. Still is. The struggle continues.

No town or city in the country meets up to the image others have of it. Even where I live where people say I'm lucky to live here doesn't, IMO, live up to the image others have. It has its good and bad point and we accept it for the way it is.

The history of the U.S. is a history of racism because that was the people were during their time periods. To them, that was the normal way things were. It's only been in the last 60 or so years that the country has started to come to terms with its past and has started to make changes. The changes are too slow for most and to fast for many. We're nowhere near the idea of "All men are created equal" expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, there is a large number of people who don't believe in equality and they have the money and influence with elected leaders to prevent any progress with our country achieving equality. I know it won't be in my lifetime or the next two generations (that's how entrenched bigotry and white supremacy is) but the move toward equality can't be stop.