r/news • u/FreeChickenDinner • 4d ago

West Virginia couple charged with trafficking their adopted Black children to be used as ‘slaves,’ authorities allege

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/us/west-virginia-adopted-black-children-slaves-reaj/index.html
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u/Muted_Balance_9641 4d ago

I mean I find it hopeful that the neighbors never gave up until the kids got rescued. Even in a state like West Virginia which is associated to some degree with the history of the south.

But to each their own.

Hope the kids can sue their “parents” and their church and family for everything they own.

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u/iProtein 4d ago

Even in a state like West Virginia which is associated to some degree with the history of the south.

While I'm all for dropping on Appalachia, doesn't West Virginia specifically exist as a repudiation of the confederacy?

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u/PuppetPal_Clem 4d ago

only if you've never had a conversation with someone who is from there. they by and large worship the confederacy as some sort of lost civilization despite it existing for less time than N'sync was actively making music.

source: my stepdad is from WV and we had a couple years of uncomfortable conversations at family holiday gatherings due to his lack of education on the topic of real American history.

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u/marco-esquondolas 4d ago

As a West Virginian born and raised and current resident, I can vouch that the majority of people that I know here are not fans of being lumped in with the south, in fact most are quite proud of our state's origin in rebellion against the Confederacy.

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u/IL-Corvo 4d ago

As another West Virginian, born and raised in the heart of coal-country, I can tell you I saw more than my fair-share of Confederate flags in Logan, Mingo, Wayne, Raleigh, and Cabell counties when I lived there.

Were they common? Not particularly. Even so, I watched with dismay as my home-state went from reliably blue to deep crimson during the Bush-era. West Virginia has a dysfunctional relationship with its origins, just as it has a dysfunctional relationship with coal.

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u/ElectronicOmelette 4d ago edited 3d ago

I totally agree with this. I moved out of state years ago and when people mention something about my "Southern draw," I'm always quick to correct them and explain the differences between the Southern and Appalachian dialect!

I'm originally from Wayne county and the more in the sticks I'd go, the more Confederate flags there were. It's mind boggling.

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u/IL-Corvo 4d ago

Logan County native here, and I saw the same there as well. The deeper up a holler, the more confederate flags you'd spot.

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u/Psychological_Fish37 3d ago

Logan County native here, and I saw the same there as well. The deeper up a holler, the more confederate flags you'd spot.

I never visited, I would love to though, I heard its beautiful country. I did drive all the way down to Atlanta Ga as a teen. The confederate flags were jarring. Of course it was Nascar season but couldn't be avoided. My family and I are Caribbean decent, my step dad is Rastafarian. Said he like it better in the south, liked his racism in the open. Of course everyone was super polite, but this was well before 2016, now it seems like Maga is the dog whistle racist flag people fly.

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u/Vorzic 4d ago

The outside world will continue to look at us negatively as long as these types of things happen. As long as we consistently vote in people like the pride of J6 Derrick Evans. As long as entire generations of forward thinking youths leave the state for opportunity because coal barons and corrupt politicians run the state, leaving us with the most racist elders imaginable (my grandfather is a prime example, actual POS). And unfortunately, they vote in way higher numbers.

Don't get me wrong, 80% of people I know and grew up around agree with you completely. They are also not the ones making a mockery of our state and slathered across national news every time something negative happens.

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u/stumbling_disaster 4d ago

WV raised myself, but I fled the state at 18. I can attest that I saw tons of confederate flags worn to school and flown proudly at friends houses. You must be from a more civilized part of the state, because I heard the n word plenty to go along with their racist ass flag. The couple black kids at our school beat the shit out of the couple of kids that actually said it to their face though.

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u/PuppetPal_Clem 4d ago

Congrats on finding a pocket of sanity then I suppose because the rest of your fellow statesman are not necessarily as enlightened.

Obviously no state is 100% full of bad people but there is enough evidence regarding rural WV in my life that I'm not surprised my non-white friends have no interest in going to music festivals in that state despite being interested otherwise. Have literally had friends of mine threatened by a cashier after asking for directions to a venue at a local independant gas station. Even if its not racial and just on some "out of towner" shit it's still stupid and bigoted.

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u/XT2020-02 4d ago

Yeah. It's a beautiful area. As a visitor for many months, due to work, I have seen so many nice people and very few nasty or questionable people. I got to say, my black coworkers hated WV. I (white dude) had no issues.

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u/Grogosh 4d ago

Fun fact!: West Virginia being so bad for farming like plantations is the reason why there were so few slaves there.

Otherwise WV would have fought with the South in the civil war.

It wasn't the people of wv, it was the poor farmland of wv that decided wv would be against the south in the civil war.

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u/Vorzic 4d ago

This is only partially true. The Union vs. Confederacy supporters were delineated geographically through the middle of the state, and the majority of the counties that sided with the Union were actually in the best farmland in the state, along the Ohio River basin on the East and Northeast parts of the state.

It was a huge matter of regional thought variance: those closer to the now Virginia border ardently supported Virginia, and the right to slavery. Those closer to the now Ohio and PA borders had a more "northern" mentality. Even the OG capital was up in Wheeling, partially due to the fact Virginia maintained control over the SW part of WV even through the war. It was VERY split. It can't be understated how important the influence of prominent politicians like Peirpont and Lincoln were to the creation.

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u/Psychological_Fish37 3d ago

As a West Virginian born and raised and current resident, I can vouch that the majority of people that I know here are not fans of being lumped in with the south

If not mistaken a lot of the Scotch/Irish immigrated there, no? The Hill Folk so to speak, they had history of not only being contrarians, and stubborn to boot. Its a lot of history to remember off the top of my head, but they used to have adversely relationship with big coal lots of labor disputes as well.