A black friend I have here told me once (he's from NY) that he likes it better here because people are more open with their racism. In NY he said they were still racist but more secretive about it.
Having lived all my life in the South, but having served in the military, I've found that race relations between black and white Southerners are much more friendly than those between their Northern and Left Coast counterparts.
Do we still have a few hardcore racists on both sides? Yep, but they get more and more rare every year. The Klan has been reduced to all but a joke, and David Duke has been relegated to a footnote in Louisiana politics.
Most of this garbage about getting rid of the Stars and Bars and other crap we hear about is led by such tolerant Carpetbaggers as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the NAALCP. Their boycott on South Carolina backfired, and in Mississippi, the Confederate flag as part of the state flag was put on the ballot a few years ago. Black and white voters alike overwhelmingly voted to keep the battle flag. It's only an issue with race-baiters who never lived in the South but need something to keep them relevant in their contributor's eyes.
So true.