If they want to mischaracterize what you say there is nothing you can do about it.
It is pointless to apologize.
It would have been better to never mention Jim Crowe and just say the first half of the twentieth century, but you can’t unring a bell.
The Left is always going to mischaracterize what you say so I disagree that something is better not said. That idea is what gives the Left the power to say what people may and may not say, and that is not free speech.