Civil Rights struggles extend into the North as well as the South but how the issues presented themselves was unique to either region. Theoharris describes how school officials described Mallory as “dangerous” and fell victim to stereotyping her as the angry black woman (41). This example demonstrates how racial issues were present in the North as well as the South. This goes against common perceptions because individuals more frequently hear about violent acts of racism in the South, and therefore, people commonly attribute the North as being a safe haven for black folks when there was still prejudice interlacing systems, showing that racism and stereotypes infiltrate all groups of society. This racism is seen in the Boston’s NAACP case that focused on inequalities within the education system for black students. The group said, “‘Northern states were very smug and didn’t think the decision applied to them”’ (50).
This represented the coded language in the North. There was a system of referring to African Americans in a passively racist manner so that they could deny allegations of racism. We see this in policies that sought to criminalize and correct “problem” groups, but these policies targeted Black and Latino youth (61). This results in higher arrest rates and institutionalized issues within the community that are attributed to a default in character (61). However, this demonstrates that coded language because everything is legal; the North is protected by laws and regulations because nothing intentionally segregationist is present.
I am not surprised by this history because I saw it in conversations with African Americans in the South. In addition to other minority groups, there is an expression that Northerners tend to be more passive in their racism whereas Southerners feel more overt in their racism. A representative from the Vicksburg area mentioned that “You Northerners assume the South is backwards like we are in the 50s. But y’all got problems affecting us black folk up there too.” This historical misconception permeates how we talk about racism as well because there is a perception that “it’s not our problem.” However, all demographics are impacted by history and truly solving and paying attention to these issues means addressing the historical implications across the country.
Will Wright 
I found your post very interesting, your observation about how northerners are passively racist was a great way of describing the way northern states criminalize African Americans. The coded language used in laws legalizing everything through not presenting anything intentionally segregationist made it clear how northern difference was less visible but as much as a problem. As someone who has never experienced the American north or south, your observations about the differences in the overtness of racism was extremely interesting as it gave an insight on the different sides of the country. I agree with your conclusion that historical misconceptions change the way we take about racism.
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