the stakes aren’t as immediately as high and people got comfortable (partly cuz of integration).
This true but many are just intellectually ignorant. There was a time when being intelligent was really looked on a something positive. Its the dumbing down of american. Also civics are no longer taught in school just like handling money.
The easiest way to control folks (everyone and not just americans) is to teach them to throw their money away and not be invested in understanding government rules and regulations.
I would argue the political intelligence of all folks no matter the race is down across the board for americans if you compared folks from now to the 60s and 70s. But lets be honest the government and politicians made a concerted effort to dumb down folks. They do not want that activism you saw in the 60s and 70s (aint just talking about black folks...look at the anti war movement).
Thats one of the reasons tv shows were dumbed down and even news shows. Case in point ask yourself when was the last time you saw dead bodies on the news in the states when covering war. Now go watch clips from the 70s and see how many dead bodies of women and children you saw on the news in vietnam.