As you know I live in MI and have my whole life. I've also spent a significant amount of time in NC, because I have family there. I would say that both places have a lot of racists, but there are qualitative differences in the way racism manifests itself in the two places. In MI, there are groups who feel comfortable among themselves being racist, so that when there are only friends around, the racist guys let their guard down, but you rarely see it in public. In NC, I've had conversations with people whom I never met before that will say things like (and this is a direct quote), "I'm not really a fan of the blacks." There, it's taken as axiomatic (at least in the small towns) that whites can commiserate over their mutual distaste for all things non-white, even among complete strangers. I'm never really sure how to act in that case. Of course your heart immediately goes to wanting to stand up for humanity, but your head reminds you that all you're going to accomplish is to make things more difficult for yourself. In the above example I was talking to a guy who runs the surveying for Henderson County, NC--the only guy--and I was trying to help my dad get a variance because the builder built his house two feet too close to the property line. So you have a choice between shrugging off the comment, or saying how you feel and making poor old dad tear down his freshly framed house because you've pissed off the one guy who can do anything about it. I'm a pragmatist and a coward, so I took the easy way. However, I think that's how racism propagates itself so easily. People like me (who don't feel racist, and try to be conscious of not acting so) who tolerate actual racists for the sake of expediency. The message received by the racist in that case is probably one of tacit agreement, and any budding racists see this behavior as acceptable and perhaps even positive, because it shows that "we" have a club, and that when in this club a friendly chat about the weather and baseball is all you need to get your variance approved (for example). If you're not in the club, you're taking down the damn house.I live in NC and I often travel to remote parts of SC for work. That video of the guy in Alabama isn't a "one off" unusual experience. It's very much real, prevalent and an everyday experience for many people because of the amount of pigment in their skin.
My first trip to the south was for a wedding in Chattanooga Tennessee. I was walking by myself enjoying the view when a woman who must have been close to 80 years old asked me if I was visiting. I said yes and she said well, you must go see all the beautiful bridges etc. It was a lovely conversation and she was really proud of her town. I thought to myself, "what a lovely woman," and then she told me to stay away from a particular part of town, pointed in its direction and said "because of all the niggers." My jaw dropped, I honestly did not know what to say. I can't remember if I just slowly walked away or if I said something along the lines of, "well I'm not a racist so that will be fine." -I was gobsmacked. So, to your point, it's much more on the sleeve in the south, which is not to say that it is any more or less prevalent.