Oh, I didn't mean there isn't racism in the UK. Not at all, and far from it. But America is on another level, with racism until recently enshrined in law and society organised around state-sanctioned racism. And such a legacy means that, unofficially, society is still organised that way. Segregation is in living memory. Black people experienced horrendous housing discrimination until the Fair Housing Act of 1968, and thereafter still, which is why there's not the intergenerational wealth being transferred today like there is between white folk. Schools are funded by local property taxes, not by money allocated to a local council from a central government. Black people tend to get paid less, so they live in lower-income areas, which have fewer funds because property taxes are lower in those areas and there are small houses on which not as much tax is due, so the schools are underfunded. A low-income Black town will have an old crumbling school with leaks and rats, whereas the posh white town ten miles away which has lots of huge houses, on which lots of property tax is payable, will have the most gorgeous new sparkling school, because of the difference in property taxes. It's a vicious circle and it's that way because of the recently-state-sanctioned racism. There have been studies done which show that, even today, some estate agents tend not to show Black clients around predominantly wealthy white neighbourhoods when the clients can well afford it.
Add to that, everyone in the US is obsessed, and I do mean obsessed, with where you come from. Traditionally, Italians were seen as non-white. Irish were seen as no good. There were signs up saying "No Irish need apply" next to job vacancies. Latin Americans experience a huge amount of racism, and so do mixed-race people. America doesn't really recognise mixed-race. It goes by the so-called one-drop rule, which means that if you've ever had any African ancestor, you're considered Black. Meghan Markle is considered Black in America, not bi-racial. Jade Goody would have been considered Black her. In America, which country you come from - which really means skin colour - is everything. It's terrible, and easily the most disappointing thing about this place.
The broadsheets carry dozens of articles about race per week. Everyone discusses race, all the time. The place is obsessed with race, absolutely obsessed. I know there's racism in Britain, but seriously, it's on a whole different level here. The racism you see in Britain tends to be the result of horrible individuals, whereas in America it's baked into all the systems and so deeply ingrained in society that I'm not sure you can imagine how bad it is if you haven't lived here. I leaved it to you to imagine how many people feel free to be outwardly racist to Black people here, given the background I've just described. Britain never had segregation and never had slavery, whereas America had both, and it shows in the deep, deep racism of society here today. (Yes, I know Britain played an integral role in the slave trade, but we were never allowed to own slaves in Britain, unlike in America.)