Suffice to say racism exists anywhere there are people. Sounds simplistic I’ll grant you but such is the way of the world.
On that there's little (if any) daylight between us. The point that I was trying to make -- admittedly awkwardly -- is that South was the land of virulent racism. That's a fact. But, like no other region, it has done a remarkable job of purging itself of that. That is a indeed a story of redemption, made even more remarkable by the speed at which it was achieved.
To wrap up my take on the matter, witness Ronald Reagan who rose to office in the wake of avowed racist Jimmy Carter. And what location did President Reagan choose for one of his most rousing speeches of the 1980 campaign? Deep in the Heart of Dixie at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi! That's proof of the Party of Lincoln triumphing where it once was repudiated.