There was a time when cotton was king and Black slave labor built the stature and wealth of America, a brutal time in history the legacy of which stubbornly persists to this day in our economic, political, legal, and education systems.
Confronted with these ugly truths, our country has an opportunity to repair generations of harm. Instead, I fear we are headed down a more destructive path–not only denying our history but doubling down on the discrimination that has for so long denied Black Americans their share of the American dream. In doing so, we are crippling our economy with our own hypocrisy–and tarnishing America’s international standing as others reckon more honestly with their past.
