We're FAR past that point, and the reason that comfortable white people are so taken aback by this is because they've been given the freedom to ignore it all. Just watch the alternate dimension that is OAN or Fox News, and you will never have to worry about how a minority is ever treated in this country, because they will either tell you it's all bullshit or they will wring their hands for a segment and then go right back to bashing Obama or Clinton for things that are happening 3.5 years into Trump's presidency.
RIGHT NOW cops are shooting tear gas and grenades at peaceful protesters.
RIGHT NOW photographers are losing their vision because police officers are firing rubber bullets at their heads.
RIGHT NOW cops are destroying property and blaming it on imaginary groups of paid protesters.
RIGHT NOW cops are hiding their badge numbers because they don't want to get fired.
RIGHT NOW cops are assaulting and arresting the press.
RIGHT NOW cops have the right to wander into a woman's apartment and shoot her stone cold dead because they didn't read the number.
RIGHT NOW people in this country watch with baited breath to see whether people like that woman who murdered Botham Jean in his own home would even get charged.
It seems to me that a large portion of the conservative side of this country is more than happy with "coming down hard" on people to try to scare anyone else from trying to upset the apple cart. Because it "works."
These protesters? They're just reciprocating what "works."