One of the main techniques used to allow and permit the rest of the US avoid addressing its racial issues is pretending that all racism resides only in the Deep South.

I grew up in the Deep South, and yes there is a lot of racism there. I knew personally several KKK members in my hometown. However, I left as soon as I could and it turns out there is a lot of racism elsewhere, too.

Surprise!

The main difference I’ve noticed is that the racism in the South is a bit more overt, while in the North/West it’s more covert.

What this means is that if your name is Shaniqua or Rakesha or some other appellation considered stereotypically black, in Seattle or in Mobile you still won’t get that job but in Mobile someone might actually tell you it’s because you have an “ethnic” name or worse. In Seattle, they’ll pretend that you just “weren’t a fit.”

Results are the same, the execution is just a bit different. See the movie Far From Heaven for a good fictionalization of this dynamic.

This isn’t by any means exact, because of course unconscious biases are present and nearly impossible to quantify, but I’d say that in the Deep South, about 60% of those over 50 are actively, consciously racist, while it’s more like 40% in the rest of the US.

While for those under 50 in the Deep South it’s more like 30% and about the same in the rest of the country, too.

But those numbers aren’t really important to argue over. The point I am making is that many activists point at the evil South and say, “We need to fix all the racists over there!” Meanwhile, they ignore all the racists right next to them because the ones in the South are “worse.”