Pastoral scene of the gallant south: FL edition

Family values, Bush country, good parenting-- the whole GOP package.

He said he put the shirt on in the morning because he planned to wear it to a party that night with others who, like him, had enlisted in the Marines.

"I'm not racist or anything," he said. "It's just, some people I hate, some people I don't get along with. And black people just happen to be the ones because they think they're better than everyone else."

The student said his parents were shocked at his decision, Mom dismayed and Dad disappointed.

"I just can't believe you'd wear a shirt like that to school," he said was their reaction. "My mom was kind of upset about it. My dad was like, whatever, it's your life."

The 18-year-old said he has friends who are black, and he said he does not think they would be mad at him because they know he would not do what was depicted on the shirt.

Although a friend has borrowed the shirt, the man said it is "more than likely" he'll keep it in his own wardrobe.

"I'm a redneck," he said. "But no, I'm not racist."

They think they're better than everyone else? Nothing like a history of enslavement and discrimination to make people all snotty and smug, right? And I hope he has a lovely cross-cultural experience: "I mean, I have friends who're ragheads, I just don't like them because they think their religion is valid."