I think you're very much onto something. America's history has always been a story of a nation divided, and it also intertwines with your own country's background. 13 colonies, united against Britain until splitting into a side with slaves and a side without. It was deemed to be too much to ask for: The southern states' economy was too based on the slave trade and it was thought their economy would collapse without it. One America became two.

For what it's worth, I think they were right. The south was almost totally agricultural, and the technology to farm it efficiently hadn't been invented yet. The only way to make it work was human labor, and the natives were being systematically exterminated in the 200 years of American Expansion. No one could emaciate the native Americans, starving them for a three month trip across the sea until they were sold, chained and weak, to businessmen who saw only their bodies. But the Africans would have their spirits broken as they were coerced or ripped from their homes by the British.

It only got worse in the South. Completely reliant on the slave trade, Africans in America eventually developed their own culture. It was never truly British (or American, by this point), but no longer African. They bonded together as a community, experiencing extraordinary suffering and injustice and punished wildly for bravery or standing up to their masters. Two Americas became three.

The Civil War happened over it, and America came the closest to greatness it had ever been. Lincoln had won, the side supporting civil rights had prevailed. But, as a political move to gain the support of the border states during the war (especially Maryland and Virginia as they surrounded the capitol), Lincoln was elected with the help of his running mate, the conservative Andrew Johnson. When Lincoln was killed, we lost our chance to do the right thing. A lone violent white man killed the man who had united the nation. His replacement was much more sympathetic to the South, and instead of total liberation, we passed laws allowing segregation. We couldn't own them anymore, so we tried removing them from us. Two Americas sharing the same place, but separated by an invisible line.

Eventually segregation became systemic. African-American culture was being made by the rules to feel inferior and worthless, but in a much more subtle and passive way. No longer could we hold up a slave worked to death, instead we prevented them from working at all. They got shit jobs, as entertainers or service members. The lowest rung of society, whose income and livelihood depended on kissing the white man's ass.

Eventually segregation came to an end too. African Americans had fought side by side with white men in the world wars. They were equal, for all intents and purposes, but when they came home they were still separate. Others felt the sting of police brutality, gang and mob violence, and systemic indifference here at home and grew bitter and angry towards the system. In the 60s, those two African American cultures were personified by Malcolm X and MLK Jr. They were champions of the community, who got people to pay attention. One fought with radical extremism, anger, and guerilla politics. The other fought with public relations, peaceful protests, and mass media. Nothing changed until they were both shot in the head.

Side note: JFK was also shot in the head here, and my personal favorite conspiracy theory is that all three assassinations were the machinations of a coup organized by Lyndon Johnson, among others. I really like this theory even if it isn't true

Civil Rights was passed. As of 1964, African Americans are, in every legal way, equal to everyone else in America. But now we're in a phase where the African American community is going through an identity crisis. Every person of european decent knows where their family is from. It may go back hundreds of years. Not so for Africans. They have only a history of oppression and ruthless brutality. They have equality, but as a community they have absolutely no idea of what that means. And neither does the rest of America. It's not like we had a plan for black people being equal. We thought that if they were to be free, then they would just take on the elements of American culture like its rules, systems, and beliefs. But they haven't. They don't identify with White America. They have changed their speech to differ from how white people in America talk (it is slowly evolving into its own language. It's actually quite fascinating from a linguistics standpoint), they have their own fashion and stereotypes, beliefs and traditions. They are Americans, but they are still separate. They don't have much in common with the people who kept them down for hundreds of years.

And the worst part? Things are getting so much better between common men. Racism isn't acceptable (even if no one can agree on what is and isn't racist), there is overwhelming support from people of both races to come together and live as one America. We need to reach out to each other, especially the rioters. We need to listen to them, we need to help them. Their children aren't getting educated, they have no hope, there is something wrong and nobody is stepping up to fix it.

You may or may not have read this, but that's a brief and condensed history of the third American culture. A tremendously complex and fascinating subject.