[SPATCH]

PREFACE: I do not agree with Lauryn Hill's reparations excuse for not paying taxes, HOWEVER...

I think the average (white) citizens of our society sometimes lack perspective when it comes to the history of African Americans in our country.

1787: the Constitution of the United States is drafted. The 3/5 Compromise declares that black slaves are considered 3/5 of a person to help bolster voting bloc in southern US.

1870: 15th amendment passes giving blacks citizenship/right to vote.

*This means that less than 150 (only 5 generations ago) years ago blacks WERE NOT EVEN CONSIDERED PEOPLE BY OUR CONSTITUTION (they were 3/5 of a person - which is insanely dehumanizing, dudes).

1880s - 1960s: Much of the United States is hell-bent on keeping blacks out of mainstream society. Jim Crow laws are adopted, Plessy v Ferguson (separate but equal) rules, Ku Klux Klan forms up, etc.

WE ARE ONLY TWO GENERATIONS REMOVED THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (many of us were raised by parents who were raised in a systematically [and socially accepted] racist world).

If you don't believe that blacks have been systematically disadvantaged throughout the VAST majority of our nation's history then you do not know your history.

It takes time to overcome all of those things. Racism is still alive and well in our country (as has been repeatedly proven on this board). We have come a long way as a society, but there are still a lot of demons from our nation's past that need to be exorcised.