re: Most racist SEC state?

Really? I'd submit that Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama are 3 of the least racists states there are. Blacks and whites in these states tend to have lived their whole lives there and have been forced to deal with racism head on for 50+ years in a way that just about every other area of the country (even other areas of the Southeast) haven't had to. Demographically, blacks and whites in these 3 states HAVE to get along to be able to have successful businesses, etc. Those states don't have people moving in at the rates other Southern states do therefore the political and social order is less volatile than say in Georgia and the Carolinas. The only exception to this in the 3 state area (LA, MS, and AL) is a few pockets in the Appalachia area of North Central and Northeast Alabama where the AA is much smaller and the white population is more insular and suspicious of "others". Talking about your Cullman, Gadsden, and Sand Mountain type areas. The rest of Alabama is no different than Louisiana and Mississippi when it comes to the understanding between blacks and whites.

One thing I will say is that many places outside of the Southeast or major cities in other parts of the country don't really have the perspective to lecture the Deep South on racism. The only major U.S. city outside of the Deep South that mirrors the demographics of many Deep South cities is Detroit and it is a racial hell hole and nightmare. When you see states like Vermont who has a 1% AA population flying a BLM flag alongside the U.S. flag and the Vermont state flag you see just how little perspective some of these lily white areas of the country have when it comes to race relations.