The human mind excels at pattern recognition, even when there's no pattern. So I'm not going to try to argue that anyone is un-prejudiced.

The difference is what you do with it. If you treat someone poorly because of your prejudice about their skin color instead of giving them a fair chance, then you're racist.

But I questioned if the feeling that "everywhere is equally racist" is valid, or if the south is actually still more racist, but all the loud racists make it harder to spot the quiet ones, compared to an area that's filled with quiet racists instead.

It doesn't matter if they say the racist thought out loud and then act on it, or they just act on it. Both things are racist. Magicians use misdirection to hide what they're really doing, and I'm suggesting that quiet racists in the south hide their activities by letting the loud racists take all the attention.

That said, I've lived in the south all my life and heard plenty of racism of many different kinds. I lived in Cali for 1.5 yrs and didn't hear much at all, and because I'm white I didn't experience much, either.

The only incident that I recall was being told that I walked through a neighborhood that was very dangerous to white people. I didn't feel threatened, and I don't even think I saw any people there. But I was told later that I should never walk there again, for my own safety. To this day, I don't actually know if that neighborhood really was dangerous to white people, or if the white person I was talking to was just being prejudiced.

However, I did notice that while people talked nicely and smiled, people weren't actually being any friendlier than back where I was raised. They were just hiding things better.

Some are "negatively" prejudiced (racists), some are positively prejudiced (~progressives). Very few people in my experience are able to think about this topic in a purely rational and non-emotional manner.

Is it possible to be "positively prejudiced" against one group without also being "negatively prejudiced" against one or all others?

I'd say it's possible, I wouldn't say it's very common though - in my opinion the majority of progressives are guilty of hypocrisy in this respect.

If everyone was racist we'd be living in apartheid. Frankly, there is no political coalition willing to push apartheid because a plurality of people aren't as racist as some people in this thread seem to think.

What if there was a system that achieved the same effect as apartheid, without requiring an actual apartheid law? Do you think that would be better or worse?

Well that's certainly the intent of some bad policies passed under cover. But generally speaking if you shine a light to those policies most people will be against them.

I concern myself a lot with these kinds of “shadow caste systems”, so I’m intrigued by your faith that they are universally opposed.

I see a lot of people who sort of cultivate a barrier of ignorance because their bread is buttered by the system. They do their job but, only semi-consciously just won’t peer behind the result of their actions.

So I will meditate a little on your position. Maybe I’ve got the wrong bias here.