But whether the country is racist - or whether particular broad scale institutions or organizations are themselves racist - is very much a point of contention.

A 'country" is just a construct. It's the people within the country, the leadership they elect to make and enforce policy, that matter. Of course there's a percentage that support racists and a percentage that do not.

There's no real agreement on what it would mean for that specific admissions policy to be racist or not, and no immediate shared understanding of how the term "racist" is being used between two people who might be arguing that it is, or is not, racist.

That always has been and always will be the case. As economic migration intensifies, the agreements and disagreements wrt everything from admissions to social security, to property trespass will become increasingly tense. (Witness the AZ bill to allow shooting 'trespassers'!!)

Whereas the MAGA republicans support a guy who clearly panders to racists and bigots, they are, in my book, perpetuating racist veins throughout the nation. Clearly the most extreme of those are a minority. The mid-intensity extremists are increasing in numbers as evidenced by the rancor in open public city/county/school board meetings.

All that said, it appears that similar 'circling of the wagons' is occurring all around the globe.