and if you happen to have skin darker than a mild tan you are not going to have the best of times.

How so? I hardly even see many white people anywhere I go in the South anymore.... like anywhere. I assume you think a large number of people are racist, but they aren't.

But they can also seriously fuck up their school systems by trying to make religion part of science class

... don't recall being taught anything of the sort

rebel flags are still commonplace 150 years after the war ended

There's nothing wrong with flying the rebel flag. A lot of people simply see that as the South's flag - no big deal. Also, tons of people love civil war history. I particularly love southern civil war history and the rebel flag is part of that.