Racism it has been debated, is a political construct. Thus, governments and the people behind them will from time to time make use of racism to propel their agendas forwards.
Race is merely a bureaucratic manner to catagorise people. Marx argued race is simply the class struggle and has been put together by the bourgeoisie to divide to masses against each other.
The question is, is racism really on the rise? I'll look into that either later (I've got a chunk of Mein Kampf to wade through) or tomorrow morning (GMT) as this is my first subject at college.

Seems Racism is everywhere.
[washingtonpost.com]

Because the POTUS basically supports it. When you have the commander and chief support something, even if he flat out won't admit racism, others that are somewhat racist, tend to come out more outspoken about what they think. I've seen people say things in public that they would only say to someone in private.

I attribute racism to Trump's white nationalism.

I just found this which is a perfect example as to why - [yahoo.com]

We tend to be interested in dramatic information, it sells newspapers, gets us to click on news items. The Internet/Social Media enables disenfranchised individuals and their associated groups a much greater range of impact and a much greater chance of making associations with like minded people.

There is also a populist trend running through politics in US and through out Europe. Populist leaders tend to draw on "us" versus "them" scapegoating of societal problems by blaming ethnicities for of many of the problems confronting their society. For example, sensationalizing out how an immigrant killed a person, but not pointing out how statistically low it is for this type of crime to be committed by immigrants.

Again, with the usual blame game. Liberals accuse conservatives and visa versa. We are over 7.7 Billion in number and trying to eek out living on a finite planet with limited resources. The Earth is not made of rubber which will expand to meet our ever increasing needs. When there is a shortage of resources there is competition. During a time of increased competition scapegoats are looked for and strangers, women and children have traditionally (it has been an ongoing problem) been the last to get the resources. The crumbling life support system is anthropogenic (human caused) and there is no sign of a let-up. tRump is not the cause he is a symptom of a bigger problem. Things will only get worse until we get it. Again, my late partner's question to her 2nd graders: What is more important people or dirt?

Stress, crumbling education system. Terrorism.

Fuhrer trump has exacerbated it. It's been there dormant. His administration says its okay to hate and be verbal about it. Mostly white trash followers of Trump.

Two main reasons. Firstly, during the global economic downturn starting early this century, numerous governments found it very convenient to blame The Other - ie immigrants - for all society's ills: it suits them far more to say "there's nothing left because the foreigners are coming and taking too much" than it does to say "actually, it was our failure to deal with recession properly and refusal to rein in our own greed and that of the bankers that got us all in this shit." Because the depressingly vast majority of people accept what they read in the news, which is largely controlled and produced by greedy right-wingers, they believe this and blame Abdul from down the street, even though Abdul also just wants to go to work and earn enough money to feed his kids too and has far more in common with the average non-immigrant worker than either of them do with the stinking rich elite that rule them both. Divide and conquer - it's been used by rulers for thousands of years

This leads to right-wing politicians gaining more power. Not all right-wingers are racist (indeed, there are one or two on this site who are not, and I have a friend who despite being very Conservative is one of the most vehemently anti-racist people I've ever met) - however, the majority are, and having people such as that in power emboldens those who hold similar views to express them. It creates a vicious circle, and it can lead to some very dark places indeed.

People with power using their power to spread it. It is pretty clear that there are a LOT of folks in Washington DC who are complete racists when you look at their actions, like supporting racist Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the wars against other races. The only reason they pretend to be anti-racist within the US is because they could not perpetuate their incessant wars or be re-elected if they were all revealed to be racist.

Stress of over population and climate change perhaps. Looking for a scape goat.