Chase --

I know whereof you speak. Most students in my Alabama high school were Italian and Greek, their ancestors being immigrants who came to the state during the first half of the 20th century. Marino, Carnaggio, Velotas, Virciglio, Petelos, Pappas, Puccio, Abbruzzo, and many more that I can't recall at the moment. Come to think of it, the same was true in my wife's high school. To this day, people ask if my name isn't really Italian (Pizzatola, perhaps)converted to American (Pitts), or if she's really Greek.

To this day, certain people tend to think of segregation, racism and lynchings as social aberrations strictly limited to the South and Southerners. If you want to push my button, there it is -- go ahead.

As far as people in the North not knowing much about the South, it's more amusing than anything else. The communities I visited as a boy were Polish (Palos Heights IL) and Dutch (Holland and its suburb Zeeland MI).

Still remember how adults in Minnesota poked fun at my pronuciation of the word "ten" --

They thought I was talking about a certain type of metal;
I thought they were talking about a skin condition caused by overexposure to the sun.

Different perspectives, North and South.

Chase, now you're talking a language I can understand-- Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NIV)

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
"I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

Scripture clearly tells us that everyone is guilty of pride, prejudice, racism and hatred of others. We look for evil traits in others, but are blind to our own. We're born that way, and no doctor on earth can change our hearts. We deserve death. Guilty as charged, sir; I humbly beg forgiveness.