Well I do think we had some good things going for us the past few years...
-All of the positive publicity that State got for hiring Croom
-The presidential debate at Ole Miss
-The relatively good national perception of Mississippi's response to Katrina - while not specifically dealing with race, I think this helped promote the state as more competent overall than our neighbors to the southwest.
Whatever positive impression those three and other events might have had, may well be overshadowed by the media attention on this.
And while I am not surprised that Chicago still sees Mississippi as racist, it is not the bellwether I would have picked for a median gauge of American sentiment.
The irony in all of this for me personally, is that when I was young and went to visit family in northern Kentucky at Christmastime, I saw footage on the Cincinnati news stations about Christmas KKK marches in downtown Cincinnati every year like clockwork. It looked like something straight out of the Jerry Springer show. Having lived in Mississippi for over 30 years, I can't recall ever seeing a KKK march here. Now I know we still have our fair share of Klan members and racists, but I just find this all particularly strange.
EDIT: As much as we have our image of being racist, I choose to appreciate the silver lining that as a result, Mississippi is not a place where all of the rich snowbird Northeast liberals choose to overwinter.