I spoke with a trusted friend of mine just yesterday about something very similar to the point you stated in your conclusion. I was speaking with him about the seemingly insurmountable issues that our nation faces, and what—theoretically—would have to happen to invoke any sort of meaningful, lasting change. The bleak conclusion my mind tends to draw, is similar to the statement that you make:

This is America isn’t a wake-up call, because nothing is. Not the killer cops, not the mass shootings of children by other children, not the incipient fascism in the White House. Nothing. It’s just ever-devolving turmoil with seemingly no end in sight, and all we can do is watch the people singing, rapping and dancing in the foreground.

This is America.

After a pause he said, “And that’s exactly what they want you to think. That’s exactly what they want you to feel. They want the individual to feel powerless, so the system can continue on unmolested. But, the individual—history has shown us—is not always powerless. And when the individual excites other individuals, and those few individuals become many individuals, and together create a following—a movement—the history of the world is sometimes altered.”

There was hope in his words, hope that I felt—and even believed in to a degree—somewhere deep inside of me; somewhere quiet, a place that’s been ignored, suppressed, and disheartened for a long time. But then a louder voice rose up in me, the voice that’s been given more attention and receives regular affirmation. It said, “Even if we were to truly bring about meaningful change, even if we were to build a movement that overthrew the corruption and overthrew the oppressive institutions; once the rubble cleared, and you looked upon the new world, you’d find yourself staring upon structures built in the very image of the structures you worked so hard to bring to the ground.”

Humans seem to be doggedly determined to repeat their own follies; I don’t know that I can find enough faith to believe that we can ever truly change the way that we collectively are. This is America.