Dear Diane Sawyer,
As an eastern Kentucky transplant I managed to turn out pretty darn good. I understand that your narrow viewpoint of the mountains is constrained from your limited interaction in the area as well as your stereotyping of the area’s people.
I have met people like you before. I have met people from central Kentucky who accused me of "talking funny" because I had managed to obtain a slight accent for the time I have lived in eastern Kentucky. These people are the bane of my existence.
What gives you the right to portray the people of the Kentucky in the manner? Because you're from central Kentucky (or claim to be so)? You think because you are from a part of Kentucky that is, on average, more educated and more cultured than the southern and eastern parts of the state that gives you the right (and the nerve) to produce this expose and further brand us as "hillbillies"?
If you are from the state, why would you help to perpetuate the negative stereotypes of Kentuckians? This is treason to the people in your home state. Would you do the same to a poor black family living in the ghetto of Atlanta? Would you do a story about the 15 year old mother of 4 who lives in the barrios of east Los Angelas? No. Because if you did, you would be considered a racist, and in no way, shape, form, or fashion is racism considered journalism. However, because the population of the people you are referring to are white and the prejudice you are reinforcing is "regional" at best ("caste" at worst), it is considered acceptable by the viewing public.
Well it is not acceptable by me. Your actions are appalling. You have painted a very narrow, and incorrect, picture of the people from eastern Kentucky. We are a proud people who would like a fair representation of it’s people and not the most entertaining glimpse of life in the mountains. There are many people from the area who have went on to achieve great things in life, of which, I consider myself to be one. I obtained my education from the University of Kentucky and obtained 2 degrees (a Bachelor and Master) there within 6 years. I have a fine paying job and have refrained from falling into the stereotype of people who live in Kentucky.
You, a former Kentuckian, make it hard for people like me to be proud of where I am from. You make it hard for me to avoid judgment and curious stares when I tell people where I am from. You help to make me ashamed to talk about my home in the mountains. You have created a need for me to speak without a southern accent to avoid the stereotyping and prejudgment that comes with one. You have proven to be a traitor to your "home state", a state that I hope officially disowns you in the same way that so many residents currently have.
If you, ma’am are here to serve as a role model for people from Kentucky, then I certainly do not want to follow in your footsteps. You have turned your back on your home state. I, like others in the area, will blaze my own path in an effort to break the stereotypes that have been consistently perpetuated and reinforced by your shameful journalism.
So, on behalf of the proud people of eastern Kentucky, Diane Sawyer, please stop calling yourself a Kentuckian and let the self-respecting, loyal Kentuckians make our own name. We don’t need your help and we never did. In short, shut up.
Sincerely,
Patrick Lawson
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
There is a lot of truth in what you write. I think there's a lot of people out there that thin "The Beverly Hillbillies" are a true representation of southern people.
Post a Comment