My high school from a red state was like 99% white and also 99% conservative and had this attitude of racism is bad but also racism doesn’t exist anymore then proceeds to make racist jokes and support racist politics (including students who were very academically focused), although it never evolved to anything as stupid as taking a group photo holding up a racial slur. There was a lot of stuff from there though that seemed normal at the time then after I left realized how fucked it was, and I know of other people who think the same thing.

although it never evolved to anything as stupid as taking a group photo holding up a racial slur

The fundamental difference between the Conservative Citizens Councils and the Klu Klux Klan was the veneer of political correctness the former utilized to make the violence they doled out via the police appear legitimate.