at the end of chapter 9, Atticus refers to the ingrained racism among the residents of Maycomb. how does he describe racism in this passage? To what does he compare it?

Atticus just hopes that he can get his children through the ordeal without having them catch "Maycomb's usual disease," when "people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up." Atticus hopes that Jem and Scout will look to him for their answers rather than to the townspeople.

Atticus just is an extraordinary man ,a father , who doesn't want the children to grow up according to the trasditional concepts of Maycomb county.He refers to raicism as the "Maycomb's ususal disease".He wants to let the kids understand that colored men should be equally treated except "go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up." He therefore hopefully sets an example for Jem and Scout to look upon to rather than the Maycombians.