There is no debate that the US, like a lot of other nations, has its fair share of bigots. However, how can you honestly say 85% of society would have been alienated on the subject of equal rights? Just because the newspaper says things like that does not mean it is true.
As for the violence toward protestors, consider the ratio of violent people who did turn out to the population within that region. In other words, not every southerner was a bigot... even if a Caucasian did speak out - which there where quite a few ministers who did in their sermons - the local media just turned a blinds eye to it (where have I seen this scenario before?).