The other day a line from the old Jim Croce song “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” was running through my head: “The south side of Chicago is the baddest part of town.” I got to thinking, is the south side always the baddest part of town? Think about it. South Bronx, South Central LA, South Baltimore…for that matter, southern Italy and South America. What is it about the south that poor people always wind up living there?
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Northern Italy is wealthier than southern Italy, northern Europe is wealthier than southern Europe, and Europe is wealthier than Africa. Similarly, the American south until recently was poorer than the north, while the U.S. and Canada were richer than the countries south of the border. For political commentators “North-South” has long been shorthand for the industrialized countries versus the developing world, just as “East-West” meant communism versus democracy.
What is it with the south? Before World War II many asserted that the invigorating (read: cold) climate of the north promoted industry and enterprise while the stifling heat of the south induced indolence, apathy, etc. That’s an oversimplification, to be sure; people have written books attempting to explain why northern Europeans have dominated other, mostly southern, parts of the world. But there’s an element of truth in it. Surely it’s no accident that the explosive growth of the Sun Belt coincided with the introduction of air-conditioning.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
