I live in Alabama and it's a beautiful state. You are always within 6-8 hours of driving from a beach or mountains. The state undergoes three major geological changes as you go from North to South, leaving some really nice, natural scenery as a result. I'm originally from Huntsville, where the majority of rocket science was fostered and learned in America. I believe that there is an area in this region that holds the highest number of PhDs in the country. Huntsville is chock full of engineers and thus schooling tends to pride itself on its math and science curriculum - offering more opportunities because of sponsorships from local engineering firms like Boeing, NASA, Lockheed Martin, Adtran, and many more.

There's this trope that Alabama (and most of the South) is a fucked up, backwards, redneck, inbred place afraid of all things change, and that just isn't true. There are episodes of each of those things - just like in California or New York. It's nice getting off of work and playing basketball out in your driveway, then enjoying a beer with all of your neighbors outside as it turns from dusk to dark. Generally people are nicer here and I try my best to be as well.

I think Alabama's a great state to live in. I also think people give in to regional stereotypes way more than they should.

Most of it comes down to the fact that you have extremely geographically isolated people. Communities in the mountains of the Carolina's for instance may not even have a bank or a post office. These people are extremely paranoid and fearful of change, and thus they elect politicians that share their views and that, worse, feed into them with religious and political rhetoric about how the bad man with dark skin is going to take away all the things they care for most.

Not a criticism but how much time have you spent in the South?

My entire life. I've met some of the most viciously racist people that exist. And not just poor and uneducated people. Wealthy, educated people as well. There is an institutionalized racism that permeates most of the south. Not all southerners are that way. Some of us try to lift the south up into the 21st century. But it's a hard fight. And the resistance to change is strong.

Thanks.

But the Western USA is much more geographically isolated. Slavery broke the entire nation, and while much of the rest of the nation has recovered, in important ways the South is still broken.

As someone who grew up in the South, I would humbly submit that you have nothing more to fear visiting the aforementioned states than any of the other 38. There are many beautiful places to visit and friendly people to meet.

It's a part of the US called "The South". Which has it's own cultural identity...

I'm 31 and my adult life has been about a 50/50 split between OK and WA. They're not as different as you might think.

So far as I know New Mexico and Arizona aren't part of "The South" either culturally or geographically. If it was that simple, I wouldn't have asked the question.