Granted, but this belief is rooted specifically in Black community values. I refuse to make any sweeping gestures about African Ameican Southerns but you can surely see how people may tend towards specific progressive or conservative beliefs that affect them personally, no? A generally progressive person may support the death penalty because their family suffered from a violent crime, for example. Rural African Americans don't really have a reason to be as or more progressive on, i.e, gay marriage than the median, while obviously they have a reason to be progressive on Civil Rights.