Roderick, you are a serious and clear thinker and lead us through a progression that begins to define how we stumble forward in a general direction and hope to find each other on the way. Yet we still face the dilemma of the 74 million, let's call it, who are not swayed by logic, humanity, compassion or even threats of exposure and consequence. They continue speaking and acting in such a way that it is clear they have an internal compass leading them toward a true north of white isolation, discomfort with cultural difference, and are perfectly comfortable generalizing about other groups and strutting their own superiority. They can't help themselves! They want you to know who they are so badly they risk their reputation to tell you how they would never have their children attend a public school or live in the inner city because of ........ well, it's obvious, isn't it? they let you know, thinking that even if you believe differently on he surface, you'll get their point, because deep down you know it's true, and they cannot understand systemic racism or white privilege, it truly doesn't compute ......... they live in an American world of rugged individualism, each man for himself - men who may occasionally join up with other rugged Teddy Roosevelt types, and all this historical responsibility laid on groups of whites who want to be left alone is ridiculous to them. We can delve deeper into reasoning, into racial consciousness, we can find ourselves holding an irrefutable truth - and still some 11 year-old in Indiana will draw a noose on his desk and a tech savvy high school student in Oregon will hack into an online course with a soundtrack of antisemitic ravings and quick-flashes of swastika imagery. How do we bridge the gaps to address the core fear and groupthink that exists here? What is they key to breaking the code of hostile separation and distrust? Because if we don't the walls will grow thicker and the generations will have no memory of progress or even hope. War is familiar and we don't want to be headed there. So what's next?
