This sentence hits at the heart of the issue, but not in the way the author intended.
Our politics is no longer about persuasion, but is entirely about division. The author here is a participant, unwitting or otherwise, in this division. He writes "The nation is seething with anxiety and deeply divided about... the value of Black lives". There is no division about the value of black lives. The division is about specific policies and their affect on black lives.
Do we need less policing in black neighborhoods, or more? Do we need to change the rules of engagement for police officers? Do we need laws about the use of body cameras? Do we need more community outreach?
But these aren't the questions that are pervading the public discourse. Why? Because politicians and journalists are intent on obfuscating the real issues. Because the goal isn't to solve the problems, the goal is to harness the outrage that these problems generate, and channel that outrage into clicks and/or votes.