Having some experience living in both the North and the South in the 60’s, The North had the large scale defacto segregation with whites and blacks having no daily interaction vs. the South with both living in close proximity and having daily interactions (hence many instances of inter-personal mutual respect).
You nailed it. Growing up, we looked out for each other ‘in these parts’....unlike what Madison Ave and Hollywood would want you to think.
Even Maya Angelou said words to the effect that Northerners like black people collectively, but dislike them individually; Southerners dislike black people collectively, but like them individually.
Which is worse? I have seen the above in my own experiences.
I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin (The Berkley of the Midwest) in the 60s and I have to fully agree about the segregation.
I moved to Texas in the early 70s and found a completely different world than what I grew up with.
Note to Neal Young: “A Southern Man Don’t Need You Around, Anyhow....”