You're Not From the South, So Why Are You Speaking Like That?

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I have a cousin who was born and raised in northern California, like me. My grandparents and his mom raised him and his sister, although my grandparents did most of the parenting. Anyway, until a few years ago he spoke like any other Californian. He always spoke in a clear voice, even when he was a kid. Then he moved to Kansas. Now all of a sudden he talks with this weird Southern accent, which is so thick that it makes him almost unintelligible. Which is confusing because Kansas isn't even a Southern state! Apparently he's forgotten he's a northern Californian, because now he totes the Confederate flag and claims to be a white supremacist. Now I know not all Southerners (or mid-westerners, for that matter!) are like that at all, and it's insulting that he's trying to embrace this stereotype. He was not raised to be this way. Nobody in our family is racist. Nobody ever used the derogatory terms that he uses or spouted the ideology he now subscribes to. He had to have gotten it from his dad's side of the family, who were barely present during his childhood. Once my grandma died and he started going around his dad's family, his life started going downhill. They are lowlife rednecks who are always agreeing with him when he posts his white power crap. But they don't really care about him. A good example of how his dad's family is: When he posted that he had crashed his car into a tree in an attempt to kill himself, his relatives on his dad's side encouraged him to drink more and finish the job. While those of us from his mom's side of the family were panicking about whether or not he was okay and trying to figure out how to get him help. Earlier he posted a video of himself rocking in a rocking chair, rambling on about something, like he was an old Southerner imparting his words of wisdom. I could barely make out a word he said. It's like if you crossed Larry the Cable Guy with Boomhauer from "King of the Hill." I just kept thinking: "You are 26 years old and you are from California. How the hell did you get like this?" I love my cousin but I am ashamed of how he is now and I do not like him as a person. My grandparents must be rolling in their graves over how he turned out. Funny how people can change so drastically once they get older. I wish he would get his act together and knock off this white supremacist crap. None of our ancestors were even from the Confederate states. We are not Southerners. Maybe his dad's family is, but we are not. Even so, you can have high regard for your heritage and not condone or subscribe to racist ideology. It makes me sick to my stomach whenever I see him posting that crap, and also sad, because how the hell did he turn out this way? If he just wanted to take on the accent and live his life without hurting anyone, I'd still be confused by the change of accent but it wouldn't be a huge deal. (I know your accent can change over time to match those around you, but he hasn't lived there long enough for that to happen.) It's the white supremacist stuff that gets me. Southerner does not equal "racist." I don't know why he has to be this way. (And again...Kansas isn't even part of the South and wasn't part of the Confederacy...so what the hell?)