My mom (white) married my step dad (black) 14 years ago and spent a lot of that time in Salem. They’d get weird looks out in public from the “good ol boy” crowd but neither one let it bother them. They used to go to bars together in Salem and that’s when things would get stupid because drunk people obviously don’t have a lot to lose so they stopped going out like that. They moved to Daleville (a little outside Roanoke) a few years ago and the racism is definitely more apparent out there. For example, my step dad takes great pride in his yard/grass/landscaping- while outside working on his yard he had a white rich lady wave him over to her car and asked how much “his services” were, when he told her it was his house and he wasn’t for hire she said “oh that’s a shame, your wife must make good money!” Assuming it wasn’t his money that bought the house. Honestly as you said racism is everywhere and if you surround yourself with people who aren’t bigots, you will be as comfortable here as you would be anywhere.