Racism is color blind, it's a prejudice towards those that don't fit within one's norms. While it is debated whether racism is natural, it definitely requires education to break the fear and suspicions that are built into our prejudice, which is not only personal but also cultural.
I agree with what others have already stated, that America's fear of communism has led to a deliberate racial divide in an effort not to frame what is commonly accepted in Europe, class division and struggle. I know a few Africans who have difficulties adjusting to American life because they don't carry the history of black and white America. They're educated professionals who are most comfortable among other educated professionals, regardless of their race. They have more in common with their multicultural middle class friends than they do with those of the working class, regardless of their skin color.
For some people in America, skin color is the barrier to entry in their world because that's all they've ever known, generation after generation. But in the last 30 years or so, many black Americans have gotten an education and have achieved middle class status, something that is unacceptable for some, because skin color defines one's status.
As I've stated earlier, it all comes down to education. If we allow racists to control what is taught in schools we can't expect emancipation from racism. Why did we tolerate the Confederate flag to fly all over southern states for so long when we all knew for decades that it was a symbol of racism wrapped around "cultural identity" bs? Because no whites in the south have had the guts to challenge the establishment. It took live media to overwhelm the internet showing absurd police brutality against people of color to generate enough revolt to put a nail in that coffin. White conservatives are striking back by taking control of education content and purging anything that would encourage kids to question the past.
The irony is that I have to thank Trump for encouraging all the white racists to proudly express their beliefs (we have a few on this board!). He shined the light on America's underbelly, building a visible army of devotees who otherwise would have just stayed in their dark holes, living their hatred through winks and nods with others just like them.
