I am a Black man and I have traveled to and lived in many different parts of the country and I agree that there are pockets of racism everywhere in America.  Everywhere.  And some of those pockets are large and in places you wouldn't expect.  When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I found it to be one of the most racist and segregated places in America despite its liberal political bent. 

Seattle is to me the most open, least racist city in America, but yet nearby Portland is well-known for racist leanings. 

The Northeast is considered liberal, but Boston is certainly one of the 5 most racist major cities in the country. 

In every major American city, North, South, East or West, there are certain communities where minorities in that city know they won't be welcomed, as visitors or residents.  I saw the videos of those people in Ohio and Pennsylvania during the Palin rallies, and those people were obviously as virulently racist as anyone in the South. 

There are open-minded areas and closed-minded areas in every part of the country.  So racism is not only a Southern problem by any stretch.  It is a problem all around America, to varying degrees.  But I think the difference is, that in the South there are few if any areas where racism isn't a strong factor.  Even California has its racist pockets, but next door to those racist pockets, you've got very liberal open-minded areas. But in the South, next to one racist area, you've got another racist area.

The South is the only area of the country where, on a large scale, state and local governments are still endorsing and defending racist policies and acting like they don't understand what the problem is.  When you hear an appallingly racist public statement from a public official, 9 times out of 10, it's someone from the South. 

It seems to me that while people in other parts of the country fairly universally consider racism to be something unacceptable in polite company, even if they are racist.  By contrast, in the South there seems to still be a huge number of people comfortable with showing it openly, and that's why the South gets the rap it does. 

Also, the South has a greater percentage of people in smaller towns compared to the West and Northeast where most people tend to live in larger cities.  Small town residents are MORE likely  to be closed minded and racist in any part of the country, but because states like Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama don't have any true metropolises, they are judged more by the residents of those smaller towns, as opposed to the West and Northeast where we think of LA before Santa Barbara when we think of California, and we think of NYC before Binghamton when we think of New York.

But I know it must be tough as a Southerner since, even in the South, I'm sure there are millions of people who are not racist, so I know it sucks to get painted with that broad brush because you live there.