The reason it is so considered is because RACISM is an industry and some people from both races are making mega-millions from it. The northern United States was/IS just as racist but to assauge their hurting conscience they ALWAYS pretend that ill treatment of black people existed only in the southern US. The fact of the matter is that there are as many if not more deeply held racist beliefs and or behaivros in the northern US as in the south. There is ample history of the hatred in the north a century subsequent to the war between the states. That our 'civil war' was painted solely as being about slavery is a blatant untruth and anyone who knows history knows better. The bottom line was money: plain and simple. Interestingly enough, the mass migration of black people is to the south not to the north. In fact the south is over-flowing with folks getting away from Knew Yawk. Oh, yeah, Thomas Jefferson (the esteemed enlightened one of so much sophisticated thought) was a slave owner who NEVER freed his slaves. So much of what goes on today relates to the Civil War - in every aspect of our lives, every day. And it isn't just about slavery. This period of our history is given short or extremely biased treatment in our schools. Only recently have some of the truths been seeping out.

Helen