Charlottesville Reminds Us How Far We Have Yet to Go on Race, But We Can't Let It Blind Us to How Far We've Come

It hurts to be reminded of how far America still has to go to deal with the racism that remains so much a part of our national experience.This time the reminder came over a weekend full of protests and counter-protests at the University of Virginia, where a series of clashes was touched off by white nationalists and others who rallied there Friday night under a call to "unite the right."It ended in tragedy the next day when a driver, apparently shouting racist slogans, drove into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring many others. The victims had gathered Saturday to stand up to protesters who use Charlottesville's long connection to Robert E. Lee, the general who led the armies of the Confederacy in a war that ended 152 years ago, as a rallying cry for whites.  Continue reading...