Racism has always been a means to an end for the rich (upper upper class aka .01% aka ruling class or whatever you want to call it) in America and elsewhere. It

Racism has always been a means to an end for the rich (upper upper class aka .01% aka ruling class or whatever you want to call it) in America and elsewhere. It has always been a way to control the masses, especially the poor by dividing them and turning them on each other. It has always been perpetrated from the top down by people who know better. The people at the top count on everyone else being either disinterested (because it doesn't affect them) or too stupid to realize this or learn from history. They count on people being too stupid to see that in a racially divided society, they can never advance or have power that threatens the upper upper class. Part of this control is pretending that racism stems from the poor and uneducated, that it rises out of ignorance rather than willful planning. I suspect the upper middle class is simply trying to imitate the upper upper class in these cases.