Liberal Unfriendly Place: Chattanooga, TN

Most of the money in this city goes to tourism, the #1 economic industry. Once a manufacturing and industrial town with comparatively high wages, now it is a low wage service economy with high levels of poverty. The rich live literally on the mountaintop [Lookout and Signal Mtns.], while the poor and working class live in the valley.

This is a city which was ruled by the Ku Klux Klan, and right-wing militias are still very strong. Police brutality is a serious problem, with several persons driving through in recent years killed by local cops along with city residents.

The radio airwaves are inundated with right-wing christian preachers, and Leftists such as myself have a tough time being heard. There is so much censorship that when myself and other tried to start a radical news show on public access cable TV, the city mayor and the county commission, hurriedly passed resolutions doing away with public access, making it into government and educational access covering boring city council meetings and school lectures. Myself and a small group of dissidents are thinking seriously of starting a pirate radiotv station to breakthorugh with other points of view other than Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson. Stay out of this place if you value your sanity and political self-esteem.

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I have recently relocated to Chattanooga and find the listed letter-writer's comments on-the-mark. I am originally from Michigan where the brand of liberalism is more populist than progressive, but it was a shock to me to enter a large city where some not uncommon bumper stickers are "Make a liberal mad, WORK HARD and BE HAPPY" and "FIGHT POVERTY, GET A JOB!".

I thought a university town (UTC) would at least contain a large proportion of soft liberals (pro-choice/environmentalist/free speech/free markets)but my guage suggests otherwise. In Blockbuster Video(which refused to stock KIDS--the acclaimed film on youthful distemper and contemporary amorality), I ran into some MTV generation hipsters and took some short-lived relief in the possibility that the kids in Chattanooga might be a little rebellious. Instead I eavesdropped on their conversation which involved some musings about whether they should listen to Marilyn Manson "because he worships Satan".

The local Papers apparently operate under a JOA but are not representative of a truly leftist perspective. The Chatt Free-Press is reactionary (Editorials in the last two weeks have called for the death of communism(!), anti-pornography legislation and the defeat of the Health-care bill for children.

There has been some some light in this otherwise dismal place. Books-a-Million carries the minimum of liberal news magazines (Prevailing Winds, The Nation, Atlantic Monthly) amidst a sea of business publications and stock car fan-nags. The people are also happy to produce southern-charm on demand. Maybe you need to add a third category to your web-site: Friendly Fascist Cities.

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I'd like to rise to the defense of my hometown...

I grew up in Chattanooga, TN. I call myself liberal. Therefore, I have to say that, while it may not be a bastion of liberal philosophies, Chattanooga simply is not 100% liberal unfriendly.

Just ask the Utne Reader. In its May/June 1997 issue, the magazine voted Chattanooga one of America's 10 most enlightened towns based on its recent history of sustainable development and a newfound, progressive, blue-collar identity. OK, so it was #10; but in my opinion, it hardly deserves the grilling I see it has gotten on this particular page.

Chattanooga posseses a great deal of scenic beauty and residents have, over the years, come to respect and treasure its environment, specifically its riparian habitats. The city has gone from being one of the filthiest in the country as recently as the 1960's, to one of the cleanest. The recently constructed (1991) Tennessee Aquarium is a testament to this new environmental awareness. The author of the first anti-Chattanooga piece points out him/herself that the city's economy has gone from being industry-based to tourism-based! Let's admit that's somewhat of a double-edged sword.

The arts community in Chattanooga is very active and includes the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, the Chattanooga Theatre Centre, and the Hunter and Houston Museums. The airwaves are, admittedly, clogged with right wing demagogues; but, if one chooses, one can tune in to public radio (WUTC) which airs such liberal news machines as National Public Radio's "All Things Considered". Chattanooga State, the local community college, also airs an unabashedly ecclectic variety of music. (Personally, I don't know why anyone would base any part of his or her opinion of an entire metropolis on an overheard conversation of some kids on the subject of Marilyn Manson.)

Like most cities in the south, Chattanooga is trying to come to terms with an ugly history of race relations (see the aforementioned Utne Reader article). The annual Bessie Smith Strut, honoring the blues musician who hailed from Chattanooga, was conceived to be a display of racial harmony. There is still a long way to go; but show me an _urban_ area in this country where people of _different_ economic and ethnic backgrounds try to live together that doesn't have a long way to go! (As an aside, I went to college at UNC-Chapel Hill, which is home to a horribly self-segregated student body in a wonderfully progressive town.)

Friendly Fascist City? Give me a break. Live there a while; seek out a niche; and see what you find.

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This place is the pits. Don't think of drinking a beer at the micro-brewery here-- you will be eyed by the Bible Thumping right-wing majority sitting all around you-- and this is just beer. Hope you like RUSH and are fond of government and gay bashing. Avoid Chattanooga at all costs, UTNE reader was simply caught up in the 'downtown revitalization hype.' Obviously, UTNE did not spend a lot of time here.

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I too have lived in Chattanooga all of my life and view the motivation behind the Aqarium and other environmental improvements as totally economic-based without genuine concern for the environment itself. Also, the people who support the arts in Chattanooga are the "mountain" bourgeois. Granted, they do fund everything, but many events are not accessible to the average working class citizen and certainly art with a "liberal" view is not welcome in this mainstream arts program. We must go to Atlanta to see really good, artistic film, etc. The Chattanooga Cultural Arts program is funded by the city and makes art accessible to all people regardless of socioeconomic status- one bright spot. If you are liberal in this city, you can take refuge in the the small congregation at the Unitarian Universalist church- a group of liberals with similar political beliefs. People of all ethinic, spiritual, (or non-spiritual) backgrounds are welcome here and no one would be excluded because of sexual preference. That is about the only constant light I can see in this dark, dark place full of "Christians" who spout their hate doctrine to anyone blind enough to listen. We need liberals in Chattanooga though, so I am not leaving but staying here to fight the good fight! Come join us.

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As a Yankee who moved here to go to college, I have to say that they are all correct. Chattanooga does have a dicey racial past, however much progress has been made. The airwaves are filled with right-wing white noise, on the other hand the number one talk radio host is an unabashed liberal. Chattanooga has become a standard bearer for sustainable development--hardly a conservative concept. Chattanooga is known internationally for it's fleet of electric buses that serve our downtown and are manufactured here. Not only the UTNE reader, but also US NEWS & WORLD REPORT has sung our praises. US News chose 6 cities, worldwide, for their Cities that Work article (June 8, 1998). Only 2 of those cities were in the United States, and Chattanooga was one. While the issue here is liberalism, not livability, it must be stated that liberalism has many aspects. We are better at some than others. We do have a long way to go. But I can tell you, as long as the first writer feels the need to express himself in that way, we'll make no progress at all. He's as unforgiving as any right-winger. This is such a lovely city, situated in the mountains as it is, I feel led to stay and work to make it a better place. Anyone else interested?