Neither "redneck" nor "midwestern" is a racial slur. At worst it's a geocultural insult.
Not that I think GP's comment was useful or constructive, but overreaction helps nobody.
Not that I think GP's comment was useful or constructive, but overreaction helps nobody.
If you can tie it to "I don't want to live near <x>," it is likely a slur of some sort.
Despite it mainly being associated with white people, I don't think it's equivalent to something like "white trash" which explicitly targets a race - "redneck" to me seems more akin to just "trashy", which is why I think it's more class-targeted as you mention.