"People tend to think of the American South as a place where bigotry runs rampant"

You are part of the recent trend on the G&M to  have American writers denigrate  America.
Bigotry toward Americans by Canadians is their religion and just about state sponsored.
You have absolutely no need to in essence explain away or  apologize  to Canadians for 'bigotry running rampant' in the American south.
You are at least the third American writer they have used here in the past few days to cast the U.S. in a bad light. Your praise of the cities you mention are coming from a point of weakness. There's no reason for that.