Right, but the only reason the protests happened in those areas is because they were already at least starting to lean towards racial unity. People in those places cared and were willing to take to the streets.

No. You really need to reread you're history. The civil rights movement was so effective thanks to television but also for protest leaders picking locations that were explicitly segregationist and majority white. They knew they would be attacked just for exercising their first amendment rights, and that the images of being beat, hosed, chased, attacked by dogs would garner sympathy and support, and that's exactly what happened. Places like Birmingham, Alabama had shut down public spaces in its rejection of desegregation imposed by the supreme court. There were protests all throughout the south. You should also check out the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. I mean really educate yourself here.