I think I have insight into this one. I was in an elementary school that was the result of a legal settlement with the school district. They bussed a bunch of the best students, including the mayor’s children, to a magnet school in the city’s worst neighborhood. We had a wonderful mix of black and white children and we got along pretty well.

Then we switched to middle school and suddenly black students I knew got caught up in cliques. Suddenly we were strangers. There was a lot of friendliness but the ranks were closed so you couldn’t be as close across racial lines anymore.

Years later I visited a black church in the same town and was quite welcome — things were like I would have expected based on my elementary school experience.

I take from this that there are planted social elements driving us apart. I’m not saying there should be some sort of homogenous mixing, I feel the opposite. But a lot more love and exchange is possible with just a few barriers removed. Think about the brotherhood experienced with Blacks for Trump, or black people’s positive reactions to Rich Men North of Richmond…that’s the kind of thing I’m talking about, where we’re neighbors who want the same thing, share with each other, listen to each other, and coordinate.

[They] don’t want that.