No offense, I am certainly not saying everyone down there is like that, especially in the cities. But you have to admit there is a LOT more of that kind of attitude down there than anywhere else in this country.

I, personally, find THIS to be an extremely offensive statement. I live in the south, and was raised in the DEEP south. I currently live in a large city, but I have also lived in much more rural areas. I would say, in my experience, that racism is FAR worse in an urban area than in any rural one.

For the record, I'm a WASP. (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) All my life, I've had friends of different races. Until I moved to New Orleans. Here, the blacks want nothing to do with the whites, as a rule. I have a few black friends, but most of them are co-workers and we were able to develop a friendship over time. Never in my life have I been exposed to racism such as this.

On another note, racism is alive and well in the North and West. Chicago, LA, and New York all have serious gang related problems. Ever noticed that gangs are often one race hating the other? One of the issues that mankind needs to overcome is the fact that as a rule, people tend to feel more comfortable around other people that look and act like them. This can be seen everywhere. I mean, why does chinatown even exist? Do you think there was a law that said only orientals may inhabit this part of town? Of course not. It just sort of grew that way. Or litle Italy, for another example. It's not necessarily a bad thing inherently, it's just the way people work. Do I live in a predominantly white neighborhood? Yes. Do I live in an exclusive white neighborhood? No. Do I wish I did? No. Would I like to live in a predominantly black neighborhood? No. Why? I really can't say. I'm just more comfortable where I am.

I'm not sure where I'm going with all this, it's just that something as complex as racism cannot be simply "fixed". I do NOT, however, feel that it is a regional problem, as many have stated. I do feel that southerners take a bad rap simply based on what occured 150 years ago. Granted, much of that history ended only fifty or so years ago, but that is STILL much greater than my lifetime. And yes, thre are places in the south that are still stuck in the 50's socially, but not as many as some would have us believe.

On a last note, one of my two best friends in college was in an interracial relationship for 3.5 years. This was in a small town in Alabama. (You know, part of the "deep south" that people are so fond of making fun of) Did he ever have a problem with people accepting his relationship as anything other than natural? No. He DID, however, when he took her to Jersey (where he was from).