stuff like calling the people who stormed the Capitol "Y'all Qaeda" doesn't help. There's a whole history of scapegoating the South as where the "real" racism in America resides, ignoring that it exists throughout the country, its not only a rural thing etc. <thread>

moreover, it filters racism through class by relying on the figure of the redneck to absorb the blame, as if racism is something mostly done by lower classes. racism transcends classes, and the demographics of the Capitol stormers point further to the problems of this frame

the idea that ignorant, poor/blue collar people are the most racist ones is toxic. 1) unless you have a device to read people's souls, tough to judge, 2) the well-off who can afford to establish and reinforce structural racism more easily, while benefiting along race/class lines

and being well educated/having "respectable" bona fides doesn't make you immune from doing and thinking racist things. trust me. I work in higher ed and went to a fancy prep school.