Liberal Unfriendly Place: Farmington, MO

Residents managed to build a $7 million civic center (country club for the rich) on a sales tax hike, but have defeated a much-needed school bond issue three times. The school has been forced to set up a series of trailers behind each elementary school to help curb constant overcrowding.

During the November '96 election, the Farmington newspaper (Daily Press Leader) went out on a crusade to discredit a Democrat running for state representative. Despite the fact that none of the other six media outlets would touch the story, the Daily Press Leader printed half-truths and outright lies about the Democrat's child support payments. Not one resident of Farmington was allowed to vote against the Democrat (who eventually won) because the race was outside their district, but that didn't stop a bevy of unflattering letters to the editor and biased journalism by the all-Republican editorial staff.

...and another comment...

As I was growing up in the fifties, Farmington was considered rather progressive. After all it was the county seat and they permitted blacks to live within its city limits. My home town was Flat River, just seven miles from Farmington, and it was widely known that no blacks were allowed to stay after dark. A few years back, Flat River was consolidated with a few other small towns and renamed Park Hills. To my knowledge, no blacks live in that community to this day.

It's hard to grow up in that kind of area and not be a redneck. I still have a number of friends and relatives from that part of Missouri and yes, they are generally racist. Fortunately I escaped about 45 years ago and began a long slow process of growth. So I consider myself a recovering racist, a recovering homophobe and damn near to the point where I'm a legitimate progressive. There's hope for us all.