True, I was stationed in the south for a while, even back then the dim elite would scream to high heaven about the dangers of white supremacy. Every day, I passed men wearing camouflage, most had Confederate flag stickers (and many more) or tattoos. It would have been easy to misjudge them. When every table had mixed race friends and families talking about sports, and trucks. 
I ease drop at restaurants. I quickly learned that racism is not a thing in the south. I did see one guy with white supremist tats, he was with his black wife and kids at a cracker barrel, when he saw me staring, we gave me a big grin and said, "misguided youth", winked at me and went on about his business. The only racists I see now are democrats.