Could be, Adam. But southern racism is different from northern racism. Bear in mind, Mississippi has no "big city" on the scale of Chicago, etc.
Most of the state is rural or small towns...people black and white, who know one another by name, families, etc. and in most cases, have done so from birth. There may well be still be vestiges of the hatred Mississippi was once infamous for...but it's not something I personally saw much of in the parts of the south I lived in.
I do remember, though, being shocked down to my shoes at the extreme poverty some people live in. I remember seeing shacks that obviously once been slave quarters before the Civil War...still being occupied, often by a large family. No indoor plumbing, no electricity, etc. Of course I was repulsed. What decent person wouldn't be, seeing this for the first time?
Up north, we (mosly) big cities and each one has a ghetto. There are no ghettos in Mississippi....and if you think that means northern racism is somehow less painful to its victims, IMO, you would be dead wrong.
