[Boreas]

White people are always trying to restrict the conversation to slavery. That way they can let themselves off the hook and whine about being blamed for the sins of their great or great great grandparents. But it isn't just about slavery and it didn't end with the Emancipation Proclamation. Slavery's legacy of persecution, intolerance and exclusion from the benefits of our society are still a factor in the daily lives of African-Americans. The recent gutting of the Voting Rights Act, the gradual neutering of the Affirmative Action programs through things like the Bakke Decision, disparities in the quality of educational opportunities and the continuation of slavery through prison labor and the mass incarceration of black Americans are but a few examples.