Externally, America had never looked as united as America has liked to project. Segregation, Jim Crow laws, "No Irish, no Italians" signs in windows, rife reli

Externally, America had never looked as united as America has liked to project. Segregation, Jim Crow laws, "No Irish, no Italians" signs in windows, rife religious sectarianism and a law enforcement system with a long history of directed violence. It probably seems like America is getting divided more starkly, but to outsiders its just more of the same from a country that had a civil war over slavery. It waxes and wanes but it never really goes away.