April 1865
History is reinterpreting the past in the light of the latest known facts and the current culture. We choose what to remember and what meaning to give those memories.
We had a virulent form of race based human slavery until the Civil War and then after a few years of confusion and terrorism we lapsed into a race based caste system. This continued roughly until WWII and was finally dismantled in the 1950’s and 60’s. We then put in place some race based compensatory programs and policies in the 1970’s and 1980’s which are now dormant and on the way out through initiatives at the state level and I predict soon with Supreme Court decisions.
So are we done?
Yes. Within a decade all our societal institutions will have officially eschewed any recognition of race. For all the talk of reparations, “mend it don’t end it”, political correctness, and on-going unfairness, that boat has sailed. As a people, right or wrong, we’re going to put that behind us. The next generation already has.
The final step in that process is going to be, not Obama’s election, but his leaving office after having done an acceptable job. After four or eight years of a black President (to use the old terms that our grandchildren will not even recognize) there won’t be any race cards to play.
We’re still going to have poor and uneducated people. We’re going to argue about what the government should do about it, but we won’t be treating one race differently from another.
