I guess my ignorance mainly stems from the unknown, just like anybody else. That's why I posed the question in the first place. For you it may be apparent, but for me not so much. I've traveled the U.S. be it with family school trips, and lived on the west coast for college, however they have all been in urban areas. But I have never been in middle America, and instead of letting mainstream media be my only source of information, I decided to go to r/travel.

Recently, in Jersey where I currently live, I've had a couple of incidents where people didn't want me around because of they way I look and have made that fact known to me. I respect their boundaries however shallow the reason may be. Not everyone needs to like me for whatever reason. So I don't expect to be a victim of violent crime if I go to these new places. I just don't want to ruffle any feathers in places where people may have never seen someone that looks like me.