Racism is not as socially acceptable as it was 40 or 50 years ago, however it is still a big problem in our society. It doesn't need to be plainly malicious before it can be called racist. Just because the KKK is not running around terrorizing and lynching people with impunity does not mean that these people don't take their personal bias and bigotry to work or other social spheres because they do, and we see all kinds of studies supporting that. No one wants to be labeled a racist, you're right about that, even racists don't want to be called racist after openly saying/doing racist shit.
This country enslaved blacks for 250 years, instituted Jim Crow for another 100 years, we've only had a little over 50 years of equal protection under Federal law. The law can change how we are treated in the public sphere but it cannot undo 350 years of social conditioning which has affected whites and blacks alike whether we are aware of it or not. All of the racists didn't drop dead once the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed or had a change of heart a la Care Bears style. A lot of those Alt-right/Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville were young, 20s-30s, and people like that are becoming bolder in their ignorance.