Kendall, racism isn't something that is exclusively a white phenomenon. All "race" groups have their racial epithets for other groups, including Native Americans.

I agree about racism being prevalent in the North absolutely. I live in an area where, until very recently, Native Americans were more often the victims of racism just because of their numbers, and their isolation in rural areas surrounded by whites--not unlike the segregated black and white communities in the South. It was about ten years ago that we had what was the ugliest racial confrontations I can remember in my life in this region--northern Wisconsin--over Native Americans exercising their treaty rights to spear fish in the spring (something white game fisher folk aren't allowed to do). There were regular protests by the whites at the boat landings when the Native Americans would go out around 4 a.m. each morning, with signs reading charming things like "Save a walleye, spear a pregnant squaw".

But I still maintain the legacy of slavery and segregation in the South is different, and often the racism there is of a much more pervasive and virulent strain than in many parts of the North. Don't get me wrong, blacks have been lynched in Minnesota too. Just not near as many blacks as Native Americans though.

The United States' racial history is extremely complex. But the race baiting by Republicans in elections, for instance, seems to know no boundaries.