You make some excellent points. Please consider these points as well.
First, I do not think people are merely pointing things out to "get recruits". I do think many people continue to be bothered by the way that longstanding racism in the south, and the plantation mentality, are not factored into the equation as much as they shoudl be. I realize that recruited athletes and their families are trying to make good decisions for their futures, and I respect that. But often these kids only spend a few days on an SEC campus, and with a very limited snapshot of that geographic area. They are whisked from meal to meal, from coach to coach, and they really don't get a chance to see what actual daily life will be like. I do not have some sort of "cure" for this, but I think that the "southern rural areas are still more racist than other areas" factor is often overlooked because recruits and their families usually just get a brief (and very positive) view of the SEC campuses.
Second, nobody thinks that "racism is going away" simply because a recruit chooses not to go to an SEC school. And nobody is saying that there is an absence of racism in other locations. I think many of us realize that racism is more ingrained, tolerated, and celebrated in certain parts of the country. As observers, I think many of us wonder why a person who may have been fortunate to grow up in an area which is somewhat less racist and/or tolerant of many different cultures will knowingly choose to live in an area where racism is deeper and stronger.
I don't think that any of us are naive enough to think that one law or one boycott or one uprising will end racism in America. I think most of us are realistic enough to understand that it may still take hundreds more years to erase the original sin that you accurately pointed out as arising hundreds of years ago. At the same time, many people feel that we should take all of these small steps in the meantime, that laws and boycotts and uprisings do have some gradual impact, and that hateful minds are not changed overnight. Speaking for myself, I don't like to put myself in the situation of aiding or abetting racism, though I know that my own personal actions are not going to single-handedly win the war on racism.
Also, speaking for myself only, I recently spent a year working and living in South Carolina (near Clemson). It was very eye-opening as to the way in which hundreds of years of racism has shaped a location, and how oblivious people can be towards the ongoing daily "small-dose" racism that still exists.
We all know that there are many big stadiums, winning coaches, rabid fanbases, and historical wins at the SEC schools. But we also shouldn't forget how those schools and stadiums were funded and built, and how they continue to tolerate a certain kind of behavior. I realize that some people bristle when we use the term "racism" to describe this modern-day variant of it, so for now let's call it "entitlement". It's still there. But let's just talk about it and not ignore it or claim "it doesn't exist anymore".
), There were some sorority girls dressed in black face in a social media post; and throwing around the N word. Yea,.. whatever.
