To your last point I came to that realizing a minute ago.
America has mad problems to deal with. Our very history/ the inception of this country is marred by a savage past but... it’s still better than almost anywhere else
I don't know about overall though. Maybe in the Bay Area/NYC, for sure.
When I went to college, racist white dudes would test me and my friends all the time, since we were the handful of minorities out there. Dudes were randomly attacking Asian students in the streets just for being Asian. I got into fights so many times over anti Mexican (I look Latino), anti Asian (I also look Filipino), anti Middle Eastern comments...I got tired of fighting drunk frat boys who never abused me based on the correct race
I was never the one to react with violence though. I usually insulted their intelligence, which led to them attacking me and my friends. most of them were rich kids from Orange County or San Diego, which goes to show that even "Cali is so welcoming" isn't always true.
And the Midwest...I'm glad I quit my last job. I had to fly out to the Trump states every few weeks for work, and nothing is scarier than 50 white people at a restaurant all turning their heads to stare at you like "How dare you come in here"....I told the server "Can I just get this to go??" And dipped ASAP
I've had people give me strange looks in other countries before, but non coastal US is the only place where I thought I could actually die, and I've only been physically attacked by white people
I'm definitely grateful to grow up in a pre-gentrified diverse US city though. Growing up next to people from all over the world leads to learning and appreciating things you would've never known or experienced if you just lived among your own people. That experience exists in very few cities worldwide.
Am I afraid of Muslims, black people, Mexicans, etc? No, I grew up near the largest Afghan population outside of Afghanistan, one of the largest black cities (at the time), one of the largest populations of Mexicans in the world...but my mentality could've been much different if I was raised in Oklahoma or some other trash area.