Gawker is on a quest to determine the most racist city in America. Your contributions are vital to the cause. Please add your insights in the discussion system below. Or if you'd like to nominate another city please send an email here. Today... Memphis.

City: Memphis, TN

Population: 652,000

Ethnic Breakdown: 29% White, 63% Black, 2% Asian, 7% Latino (NOTE: Percentages don't add up due to people marking themselves down as belonging to more than one race)

History of Racism: See below.

Police Brutality? Yes.

Hear it from Memphisians!

Lori:

I can't believe a lot of people haven't voted Memphis to be the most racist city. My husband and I traveled to Nashville on motor cycles two years ago. We were part of a group of three couples. We were welcomed in Nashville with open arms. Our second stop was Memphis and except for visiting Elvis's mansion we were barely paid any attention. At the hotel desk when we checked in, two girls behind the desk barely looked at us and were not friendly at all. Later in the day (after we went to use the swimming pool) we asked a different girl at the desk for a wine bottle opener and she would not even acknowledge us. Our group took a ride on a street car behind our hotel the next evening (in regular casual dress) and when we asked the driver of the train about local points of interest he wouldn't answer. Needless to say, we won't travel there again, ever!!!!!

Ikaiyoo:

I. Prior to the civil war, Memphis was one of the largest slave trade centers in the US, with more than 1/4 of the city's population comprising of slaves.

II. Nathan Bedford Forrest Lived here most of his life, making a fortune in the slave trade in Memphis. He was responsible for the killing of over 600 black union and white southern unionist soldiers during the war. He also because a grand wizard of the KKK after the war. We have a city park commemorating him with a huge statue of him.

III. In May of 1866, there was a riot after a white police officer got into a fight with some black men who were discharged union troops. Forty-six blacks were dead and 285 had been victimized in one way or another. However, no arrests were ever made for murder, rape, theft, or arson, although many of the rioters were well known to the victims who later identified them to a congressional committee.

IV. In the 1890's during the population rebound after the yellow fever epidemic, control of the city was taken by white migrants moving to Memphis from outlying rural areas. The white migrants reinforced the city's devotion to the ‘lost cause'…In seeking to keep alive the ‘noble traditions of bygone days,' white Southerners embraced a complex credo, which included an insistence on black inferiority.

As this new generation of whites assumed power in Memphis, they took measures to control the African American population and to ensure white supremacy. By 1905, blacks were segregated on the city's streetcars and were not allowed to visit the city's parks. At the turn of the twentieth century, "Memphis presented a strange paradox - a city modern in physical aspect but rural in prejudice, and rural in habit."

V. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.

VI. And the most important fact: "The Political Cesspool" was conceived and is broadcast in Memphis. For those who do not know...

The Political Cesspool describes its philosophy as "pro-White" and "against political centralization". Its statement of principles, borrowed from the Council of Conservative Citizens, reads:

The Political Cesspool Radio Program stands for The Dispossessed Majority. We represent a philosophy that is pro-White and are against political centralization. You can trust The Political Cesspool to give you the "other side of the news"-to report on events which are vital to your welfare but which would otherwise be hushed up or distorted by the controlled press.

We make no attempt to give you "both sides." We'll leave the establishment side to your daily newspaper, television and other radio shows. We will bring to you some of the most renowned thinkers, writers, pundits, activists, entertainers and elected officials each broadcast as our guests.

Furthermore, we pledge that The Political Cesspool will correct any meaningful error or fact. Make up your own mind who is being honest with you: the establishment media or The Political Cesspool Radio Program.

1. The United States government should be independent of any international organization of governments and American law should not be imposed by organizations such as the United Nations.

2. America would not be as prosperous, ruggedly individualistic, and a land of opportunity if the founding stock were not Europeans.

3. Since family is the foundation of any strong society, we are against feminism, abortion, and primitivism.

4. Private property rights are inviolable. They come from our God-given right to life.

5. We wish to revive the White birthrate above replacement level fertility and beyond to grow the percentage of Whites in the world relative to other races.

6. Issues such as education, environmental law, and police should be decentralized down to the lowest level to insure natural rights and efficiency.

7. Secession is a right of all people and individuals. It was successful in 1776 and this show honors those who tried to make it successful in 1865.

8. We are cultural conservatives because we have certain morals to which we adhere. We are against homosexuality, vulgarity, loveless sex, and masochism.

9. We wish for American government to stop interfering politically, militarily, and socially outside of the borders of the United States of America. We want non-interventionism.

The majority of the staff is proud to claim and does so often that they are descendants of confederate soldiers.