To understand America’s tumultuous present, we need to be honest about its history
Author: Steve Haycox
Published January 16
National Guard troops stand behind a fencing outside the U.S. Capitol on Capital Hill on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, in Washington, D.C. The House of Representatives convened for a session to take up articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, nearly a week after an insurrectionist mob of pro-Trump supporters breached the security of the nation's capitol while Congress voted to certify the 2020 election results. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
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Those of us of a certain age can remember, with a little effort, when America was different, when white male privilege, though it wasn’t called that, was taken for granted, when father knew best, when African Americans (then called Blacks or Negroes) were regarded as unredeemable except for a very few exceptions, like George Washington Carver. Indigenous Americans were understood as an irresolvable noble tragedy, and women were best when pregnant and in the kitchen – and even better, when they didn’t vote. All that began to change not long after World War II, when significant portions of the population began to support legislation and policy initiatives moving toward racial and cultural equity.