you know, it's really wild to me how we just Assume Rural America was Always Predominantly Republican leaning when North Dakota was known for having one of the only state-owned banks specifically to contribute to agriculture
anyway, just like gerrymandering and redlining, i wonder how much the loss of black farmland over discrimination at the USDA (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhMxk9pqfGI ) has played a huge part in reshaping our idea of what rural identity is. I mean, you saw similar things in Southern California prior to, during, and after the goldrush happening (see: Malcolm Harris - Palo Alto), undervalued areas rapidly become desirable and there's a violent cleansing campaign to push anyone on the land who the authority deems not deserving of it.
up until this video i didn't know how stark the land loss was though I was aware of it to some extent (with the clear acknowledgement here that, all of this land still belongs to indigenous people)
It's just super weird that when a lot of people picture rural america, they're picturing a very homogenous rural america that's just straight up propaganda made flesh by systemic violence
