Is it racist to say South America in general is unsafe to visit?
I don't know if it is, I don't feel offended by it and I live here.
A lot of people in Brazil are as patriotic as a hillbilly may be. Some are even more, actually, because in my opinion, there are way more reasons to be proud to be an American than ones to be proud of being Brazilian.
But then again it all depends on where you go. Brazil is a very huge country. I would guess that in 98% of the country, there is nothing to be concerned about. Usually, the 2% places are metropolitan areas in huge cities, like Rio, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte. Those places, if you live long enough there, you'll eventually get mugged or robbed. That's almost a certainty. At least that you'll be robbed. Way too many crooks in here because the government gives absolutely no shit about the people.
In America you guys discuss about Obamacare and a few other issues that people here don't even think about as being their right. You know what happens to a Brazilian that needs medical assistance? He dies. If you don't have money to pay, the government does not provide anything to help you.
In America you guys discuss about black people being victim of racism from police officers. You know what the Brazilian police does in here? The BOPE can kill anyone at any time they feel like it as long as this person lives in the favela and for 92% of the murders investigated that is supposed to have the police involved are simply ignored. This means that if you live in a favela, you're not a criminal, but you get shot by a police officer, you are treated as "collateral damage" and the community senses that it is your fault somehow for either living in a favela - which most don't have a choice -, or being around people who were getting shot - as if you loved to be around criminals.
In America you guys have a justice systems that despite its flaws, works. Brazil might be one of the most bureaucratic countries in the world. If you don't have money, you'll get nothing done. And I do mean nothing. I wasn't allowed to use my car for 7 months, because everyone on the institution that takes care of drivers license expiration in Brazil wanted a bribe to "speed things up". Note, I had all the right documents and everything was in place. So after 7 months they gave up? Nope, I caved and payed the bribe because I was instructed by a lawyer who proved to me that if I didn't, they could drag this up for over 20 years!!
In America, police response is relatively reasonable. In Brazil? There are actually a trend in here of police officers - plural - that sell information to criminals about where are the places they'll be, so they avoid it.
So my point is, the entire country is not bad, if you walk around, you'll find marvelous places with amazing human beings. The parts that are bad though, are nightmares that make Satan go: "Oh my God!"
The worst part? The people. Nobody gives a flying fuck.
A few years ago, people protested against an increase on public transportation fare. The people won? No, the government waited a little, as they always do, people got back to their houses and they increased the fares even more than before. In fact, the demonstrations accomplished absolutely nothing, even after evidences of our own president participating in scandals with a company called Petrobras.
Brazilian people rely on misinformation coming from news people that are so biased, they make Fox News look like a mix of Richard Dawkins with Spock. Rede Globo de Produções is so bad, they even contradict themselves in the same day. They lied so bad, it's even a joke here. The problem? People believe them anyways, because apparently, "everyone is a little bit of a liar, but nobody can lie about everything", so some of it must be true. I'm not kidding.
You think Donald Trump is a clown? Holy shit, check this out, the second most voted politician in Brazil was an actual clown. Not a derogatory term here, the guy was an actual illiterate, racist comedian whose slogan was: "it can't get worse than this!!" The most voted was a guy who looked funny, but did absolutely nothing for the Brazilian people.
TL;dr: Is Brazil a good place to visit? Yes, most of the country is safe, specially the less populated areas. To stay? Hell no. Apart from the people, - who are significantly more welcoming than any other country I have been, and I have been in a lot of countries -, everything else in Brazil is either really bad or just bad, from social structure, to political scenario, healthcare, police, federal institutions, corruption and violence.