To be fair, one of the key ways the American South functions - has always functioned - is by trapping people into remaining there.

The systems (not just formal ones, informal ones are more impactful especially in the South) - have only "improved" to superficial degrees since chattel slavery, and are now granted roughly full permission to finally regress and remove the mask.

The rest of the country wonders "what the fuck is up with the misery, almost chosen to be self-sustaining, in the South? Why would anyone thoughtful stay there, why does it stay so bad, too, why don't they make fixes?".

It's always the systems in place that answer those discordant-seeming human choices, the contradictions.

The American South functions - and always has - by the systematic trapping and exploitation of its populace, to a degree always devastatingly more ugly than mere "modern capitalism".

So. A little grace, due, for those who can't just exit. They're working against ~everything. Personal details I can't relate here, but it's unimportant. The trap is, has always, been evident.