Akilah Hughes: Letter from Home

Kentucky-born and Beverly Hills-based writer, comedian, and podcast host Akilah Hughes pens Issue No. 4’s Letter From Home ahead of this year’s elections.

Letter by Akilah Hughes | Photos by Jason Travis

As I sit on my couch with my nearly 2-year-old puppy, Fauci (named for the famous, soon-to-be-retired epidemiologist) lying across my shins, I have had a revelation: The South has power.

This is an undeniable truth. Our outsized impact appears in every arena from food to music, agriculture to sports, across the country. At any bar worth its salt, no matter where, you can enjoy deviled eggs, chicken and waffles, and a bourbon (neat) while listening to the new Beyoncé album, no skips. If that’s not power, lest we forget, Georgia flipped the Senate blue in 2021 with record turnout for Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. 

Which brings me to the reason I’m writing to you today: The South needs to show up and show our power this November at the polls. 

See, when I first heard of The Bitter Southerner, I smiled, because I saw stories, intentionally told, reflecting what I always knew to be true about my home — the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, a collision of urban business folk, rural farmers, and suburban families.

I grew up in Florence, Kentucky, a semi-rural suburb of Cincinnati known for the big red-and-white water tower that reads “Florence Y’all” facing I-75 South. As a kid, I caught lightning bugs in my backyard and yelped at the sight of frogs that escaped our neighbors’ swimming pools. All of my best childhood memories include eating homemade cornbread and baked mac and cheese surrounded by my big Southern family that passed recipes down from the days of slavery to my grandmother, who worked as a chef in a hospital, to my mother and to me. 

I went to Berea College, an Appalachian oasis, where I met bell hooks, a Distinguished Professor in Residence at the time, in the middle of a crosswalk while heading back to my dorm. I graduated in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting, setting my sights on cities with more opportunity in my chosen field. But I always considered the South my home, and I don’t shy away from infusing my work with the perspectives of the people I grew up around. I insist on reminding the rest of the country that the South is not just a place trapped in the past, but a living, breathing, beautiful place today. We won’t be overlooked. 

We aren’t smart despite where we come from, but because of the rich history, the knowledge of the land, and the connection to the cultures here. We aren’t inclusive despite geography; the South is home to more Black people than anywhere else in the country, and half of the top 10 most diverse states in the U.S. are below the Mason-Dixon Line. 

We aren’t decrying “wokeness,” “cancel culture,” and school curriculums in the way that cable and print media are selling and desperately want the rest of the country to believe. The South is made up of nurses, teachers, families, and children. I get the “Bitter” part of this publication’s name, because if you only watched TV and never set foot somewhere in the South, you might well believe that we are all endlessly sitting in diners, whining about the state of the world rather than the reality: We are shaping it.

This November, so much is on the line. Politics in America have become akin to wrestling; it’s a bunch of people rooting for their guy to win and making it their entire personality. But the South can lead by example. This fall, Bitter Southerners have crucial elections and cultural issues on the ballot, which also means we have the opportunity to stand up for what’s right even as the rest of the country underestimates and stereotypes us.

In Kentucky, we can vote against Constitutional Amendment 2, which would erase abortion access — with NO exceptions.

West Virginians can vote NO on a legislative rules amendment, which would take power from the politically equitable Board of Education and give it to the conservative state Legislature, which would then have the right to determine what children are allowed to read, write, and learn.

Georgians can vote YES to stop citizens’ tax dollars from going to any public officials — including members of the General Assembly, the governor and lieutenant governor, commissioners, and more — who have been suspended from office on a felony indictment. 

Texans know that smart gun regulation and a smart new governor (Beto O’ Rourke) are on the ballot. They also know that their power grid should work 100% of the time, and voting for Luke Warford will keep the lights on. 

Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee voters can vote YES on removing literal slavery from the states’ constitutions as a legal punishment for a crime. This language was added in the Reconstruction era. Isn’t it time to update it?

What’s at stake this year can feel overwhelming, but we know that to be a Bitter Southerner requires action. We thrive only when we exercise our rights, raise our voices, and show the rest of the country and world who we actually are. So this is a plea, a prayer, and a petition for you to vote this November and remind everyone what the South stands for now.

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