You can live in the world of myth and be taken seriously.

Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.

Humans also tend to find community to be pleasurable, and within the boundaries of community relationships, words - often ironic and self-deprecating - are always spoken that take on other meanings when uttered by others.

Is the Jewish race thriftier than the Arab race?

The progressive approach to policy which directly addresses the effects of white supremacy is simple - talk about class and hope no one notices.

What sets black people apart is not some deficit in personal responsibility. It's the weight on our shoulders. That is what's actually different. We have the weight and burden of history.

An America that looks away is ignoring not just the sins of the past but the sins of the present and the certain sins of the future.