Turn Down the Hate. Turn Up the Love.
In this ongoing Salvation South series, we amplify the voices of Southerners who demonstrate radical love and acceptance, challenging negative regional narratives through their transformative community work.
We do not have to tell you how loud the volume is on negative narratives about the South. They are amplified by news stories in the global media and by movies and TV series on the streaming services. And state legislatures across our region are passing legislation that amplifies hatred toward people of color, queer folks, and immigrants.
Sadly, their narrative sells. It gets people elected, and it makes money. And we cannot, working alone, turn down the volume.
The truth, of course, is that certain people—driven by greed, fear, and a lust for power—work to spread stories that keep Southerners pitted against each other. But we all know of the other stories—of love and generosity and courage, of mutual support and helping hands. Culturally speaking, Southern folks whose actions are driven by such positives are not generally ones to brag. They put their heads down, do good work, and expect neither recognition nor reward for doing it. Being loud and proud about our work, or our love, isn’t really how most of us were raised.
These are different times, and they require us to move in different ways. The quiet love that drives you to invite your neighbors over for dinner—regardless of what color their skin is or where their people come from or who they love—doesn't always send you to state capitol buildings to fight on their behalf.
Humility and modesty are admirable traits, but truly loving all of our neighbors, these days, requires us to raise our voices. Because we live in times when outsiders interpret humility as silence. And when vulnerable Southern communities hear our silence as acquiescence to the hatred and violence directed at them.
We live in times when outsiders interpret humility as silence. And when vulnerable Southern communities hear our silence as acquiescence to the hatred and violence directed at them.
In this moment, our home, and the people who live here, need us to be louder. They need us to make our love louder. And that’s why Salvation South began this series of stories. To turn up the volume on love for the folks in our region who are fighting to make it a home for all of us. To make our refusal to give up on this region we love—or our ability to feel at home here—as visible and as vocal as we possibly can.
In these stories, we will tell you the stories of Southerners whose love should be heard and felt far and wide. We’re going to challenge you to love louder, too. Because while we may not be able to shut down the hateful narratives coming out of the media capitals and our own legislatures, we can turn up the volume on those whose love and actions arise from genuine Southern neighborliness—in the hope that one day, all you can hear is love.
Are There People or Organizations in Your Community That Love Louder?
Read “Love Louder” No. 3
Crystal Good, Affrilachian poet and founder of the community news service Black by God: The West Virginian, on amplifying Black voices in West Virginia through community journalism.
Read “Love Louder” No. 2
Neema Avashia interviews Rae Garringer about their groundbreaking oral history project celebrating LGBTQ+ lives in rural Appalachia.
Read “Love Louder” No. 1
The pandemic left communities in Eastern Kentucky fighting for survival and waiting on government responses that came too slowly, Misty Skaggs turned to the ancient principle of mutual aid.
Wear Loud Love
Sales of all “Love Louder” products benefit the organizations featured in the “Love Louder” series.
T-shirt
$10 goes to the Love Louder Fund
Tea towel
$3 goes to the Love Louder Fund
Sticker
$1 goes to the Love Louder Fund
About the author
Neema Avashia is the daughter of Indian immigrants and was born and raised in southern West Virginia. She has been an educator and activist in the Boston Public Schools since 2003, and was named a City of Boston Educator of the Year in 2013. Her first book, Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place, was published by West Virginia University Press in March 2022. It has been called “a timely collection that begins to fill the gap in literature focused mainly on the white male experience” by Ms. Magazine, and “a graceful exploration of identity, community, and contradictions,” by Scalawag. The book was named Best LGBTQ Memoir of 2022 by BookRiot, was one of the New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2022, and was a finalist for the New England Book Award, the Weatherford Award, and a Lambda Literary Award. She lives in Boston with her partner, Laura, and her daughter, Kahani.
- Neema Avashiahttps://www.salvationsouth.com/author/neema-avashia/
- Neema Avashiahttps://www.salvationsouth.com/author/neema-avashia/
- Neema Avashiahttps://www.salvationsouth.com/author/neema-avashia/
- Neema Avashiahttps://www.salvationsouth.com/author/neema-avashia/
