I used to think that racism and the racial divide had gotten very low in the US. Sadly, I was mistaken as I have seen both in the data and in my own relatives in Ohio and Kentucky, along with quite a few folks here in Texas. There was always an undertone of racism in my relatives speech, but once Obama was elected it all came pouring out, largely against him at first, then at others. I won't even write the things I have heard them say. After Trump was elected their language got worse--he has made it ok to use such speech, since he constantly vilifies others in some attempt to please his base. While it is clear from reports of his past that he is racist, I think he is largely just a person who likes to insult people who he doesn't like--kind of an equal opportunity discriminator! Now with respect to my relatives, they will all claim that they are not racists... then turn around and say awful race-based things. It took me some time, because I didn't want to believe it, but they really are racists and they really are awful. Next, a Pew report (https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/04/09/race-in-america-2019/) shows that the majority of Americans feel that race relations are bad and not improving and a majority feel that Trump has made the situation worse. So your opinion is not shared by the majority of Americans.

Ok, that's just opinion and could be wrong, but a study of 20 million children suggests that race plays a huge role in where they end up as adults. You can see the data here (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/learning/lesson-plans/moving-on-up-teaching-with-the-data-of-economic-mobility.html). 39% of white boys who came from wealthy families were wealthy as adults, whereas only 18% of black boys were wealthy adults. Wealthy black kids who ended up poor as adults were double the percentage of wealthy white kids. There is much more data in this article and the main article that it points to.

Of course, you might wonder if genetics plays a role in this. And as a scientist, I see that as a valid question, not a racist question, though we do need to be very careful in this area. The current answer is that there is some role, but not enough to account for educational attainment (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/science/genes-education.html). Furthermore, race is more of a social construct, not something tied to genes, which can show larger variations within those who look the same than between those who look very different. See here: http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/science-genetics-reshaping-race-debate-21st-century/

As for wanting to fracture people, I don't know any progressives or liberals who want to do that. I am more progressive than liberal, yet what I want the most is for folks to come together to define problems, then look at actual data and proposals to solve them. I've largely given up with my relatives, because they refuse to consider any data that doesn't match their world view--a view that is basically echoing Fox News and that is mostly demonstrably untrue. I can carefully explain the evidence for climate change to them, but they deny it all. I can show them data like I have posted above, and they simply refuse to look at it. In other words, it is impossible to have an actual intelligent conversation with them about major issues. Many of us abhor Trump because he is so divisive. We need a leader who can bring people together, not tear people apart, but Trump is incapable of doing that--he just can't help himself. So if you see folks calling him and those who condone him out, that is not wanting to fracture people--that is instead a plea for he and them to stop being divisive.

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