If you live on planet earth and monitor the news you know that major opinion polls reveal that race relations in the country are at an all-time low. To research the matter, PEW, a nationally recognized research entity, interviewed 3,769 adults — 1,799 whites, 1,004 blacks and 654 Hispanics. The results were not surprising.

The research discovered blacks and whites in America are worlds apart when it comes to racial matters.

Thirty-four percent of the black people interviewed were saddened that former Pres. Barack Obama did not make progress in improving race relations, compared to 24 percent of the white people interviewed. In addition, more than 32 percent of those white people, mainly Republicans, believe emphatically that he made race relations worse, while only nine percent of the black people felt the same.

With respect to the Black Lives Matter Movement — which in my opinion appears to be abhorred by conservatives and those in law enforcement — 65 percent of the black people showed support for the movement. Some whites also support the movement, as more than 40 percent of white people — mostly Democrats — and those under 30 express some level of support for the movement.

Passions are indeed running awry in America. In response to the Black Lives Matter movement, a counter movement evolved among local law enforcement, Blue Lives Matter. Most recently, those who found disfavor with the Black Lives Matter movement, which included law enforcement, government officials and mainly white Americans, collected and delivered more than 141,000 signatures to the Department of Defense, demanding that the movement be investigated as a group that could inspire terrorism in the United States.

The idea of a civil war sounds ridiculous. I hope so. The reality, however, is that I believe survivalists and hate groups want that time to come immediately.

I believe without a doubt that these groups truly are arming themselves for a potential civil war, not between the states this time, but between the races.

This discussion is going on in homes across America and advanced on shock radio stations.

Many young blacks from dysfunctional families begin to believe too early in their lives, after taking an audit of their present social economic condition, that they’re going nowhere fast. For them, achieving the American dream is not possible.

Feeling trapped and desperate they often lose their sense of conscience and shame, essential for having sympathy and empathy for others. I believe young black men who subscribe to an eventual civil war between the races are not afraid of whites or the police.

Disrespecting them can result in deadly consequences for themselves and the offender.

The increased riff between law enforcement and the black community, resulting from the killing of black men and women around the country with perceived impunity, is proof for them to be suspicious of the justice system.

The irony, however, in this climate of suspicion is that blacks and whites have coexisted for centuries, but in this 21st century, we are still unabashedly divided along racial lines.