which is here:
https://www.epi.org/publication/rooted-racism-part1/
A couple of things unmentioned in the report are how the system of the Southern economic development model remains dominant despite the cited influx of transplants, and the effects of climate change on population migration.
In the case of the first item, Wilbur Zelinsky's Theory of First Effective Settlement explains the perseverance of a system derived from the values of West Indian slavers and plantation owners. As long as culture remains homo sapiens' chief tool of adaptation, it will be nearly impossible to get around it. The greatest chance the U.S. had to rid itself of this system that is philosophically opposed to formally enshrined American ideals would have been to shatter it after the Civil War. The measures required for such would have been abhorrent as they would have entailed forced relocation on a large scale.
The second undiscussed matter, the effects of climate change on increased population inflow to the South, will be just as much a horror story. The author specifically mentioned that one of the prime facilitators of the trend was the advent of air conditioning to battle the South's brutal weather.
The widespread use of air conditioning during the 1960s and 1970s further contributed to population growth across the region. The oppressive heat during summer months along with high humidity left many Southerners in misery. This has been fundamentally changed, however, by air conditioning in cars, homes, and businesses (Arsenault 1984). As Figure C shows, before 1980 the share of the population living in the South fluctuated around 30–31%. From 1980 onward, it has continued to increase in each subsequent decade.
Climate change will stress infrastructure, especially electrical grids. Temperatures will climb and wet bulb temperatures will prey on the impoverished and frail. That includes all those older Americans ostensibly relocating southward to take advantage of lower taxes and cost of living. More heat in the atmosphere means more energy in the atmosphere, heightening the calamities in a region already wracked by disastrous weather events -- drought, tornadoes, hurricanes -- as is. In short, the South will make a quick regression into pre-20th century existence.
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