It has been 156 years since the Civil War ended officially, with General Robert E. Lee surrendering at Appomattox Court House in Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant.
It took until the early 20th century for a sense of nationalism to lead to the construction of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
But the South never truly changed, and still has not even now in 2021.
They still promote racism, white supremacy, antisemitism, anti labor rights, nativism, and evoke hypocritical belief in their own version of Christianity.
For a century, it was the Democratic Party spewing forth these ugly views in the South, and now it is the Republican Party, since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Of course, not all Southerners are oriented toward hate and narrow mindedness, and many Northerners have moved to the South and made the South become more cosmopolitan.
But rural Southerners still think they are in the Civil War Era, and are gaining the backing of the Republican Party in trying to limit the voting rights of people of color, and making even white workers to be subjected to limits on their ability to advance and move ahead!
I don’t disagree with anything you say but also remember other sections of the country have embraced the rhetoric of the south. Montana (large numbers of “militia”), Ohio (seems to consistently vote Republican), Michigan (stormed the state house and threatened to hang the governor), Indiana (Mike Pence – ’nuff said) and rural sections of almost any northern or western state. Racism pervades the nation. So does antisemitism.
Fred, you are absolutely correct!
It is very disturbing, and one wonders what can be done to combat these trends! š