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Yes, I'll agree that Clod has a point. But I would also suggest that family dysfunction has a way of being handed down through the generations. It may change forms, but its hard to get rid of completely.
Racism is a great example. Even today the US continues to experience societal problems that stem from the legacy of slavery, and people's attitudes continue to be shaped by this unpleasant and immoral part of our history.
My family is from the South and everyone else in the family except black sheep me continues to live in the Southern States. When I return there for visits I get to have wierd insider/outsider experiences. None in my family history that I am aware of were slave owners. We were small farmers in the Kentucky mountains who sometimes made a little moonshine for extra cash and yet -
When I walk down the streets of Richmond, Kentucky with one of my cousins and encounter an African American walking in the opposite direction, that person will step down into the gutter and let us have the sidewalk to ourselves. I don't think my cousin even notices such incidents, but I do and I feel ashamed. When I go to Huntsville, Alabama so great is the segregation that the only African Americans I'll see the entire time are the ones getting off and on the plane with me. My late Aunt would refer to them as "those people" and refuse to go to certain stores and certain parts of town and never felt the need to give me a reason for this.
An African American friend of mine who grew up in South Carolina has raised her sons to have impecable manners because "you never know when a town is looking for a good hanging" and "you don't want to give them a reason to pick your sons out."
So just how far have really come?
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