14 True Things: Observations about protest, race, police and democracy in America

All of these things can be true. All of these things are true:

1. Systemic racism has a long history throughout the world, and the legacy of slavery in the U.S. is a particularly salient example.

2. In the U.S., we were making progress against racism, both at the societal and individual level. We were not there. We were not “post-race.” But we were making progress. The legacy of the Civil Rights era meant that it was ever more shameful and embarrassing to be publicly racist, and therefore more difficult to be privately so, as well. We were making progress until the last several years, when a perfect storm arrived. Just two of the parts of that perfect storm are these: