I think it deserves its own thread, but that is an editorial decision.
and your response previous to this one makes no sense to me. I was making a point about how racism is still very prevalent today, because it is
I understand that. i would add two caveats.
1. Racism is not a question of "everybody in the US is racist or nobody is." Life is just a little more complicated than that.
2. I believe that if you were to poll Americans nationwide and ask some indicative questions (below), and compare today's responses to those from 1965, I think you'd feel a lot better about the degree and prevalence of racism. Questions like,
"Do you agree or disagree: Black people in general are inferior to whites."
"Agree or disagree: I am okay with my daughter marrying a black man if he is a good man, financially responsible, and treats my daughter well."
"Agree or disagree: Black people are just lazier than whites."
I think you'd see an enormous difference in the responses from 1965 and today.
Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I believe the differences in opinions of 1965 and today on such questions would indicate that the people of the United States are a lot more enlightened on the subject of race than they were fifty-five years ago. And not just in the South.
My views, however, are influenced by the fact that I live in a small town in Virginia where integration was accomplished without rioting, or even fanfare. The city just moved the students from the black segregated high school into the white high school and converted the former black high school into an elementary school and moved in the children who lived closest that school without regard to race. My wife attended that elementary school.