This “America ain’t so great and never was.” posture is a sophomoric indulgence.

In the 21st century, our birthright citizenship in this republic is an inheritance of immense value.

Black Americans are a privileged and blessed people.

Our Americanness is much more important than our blackness.

The Civil War left 600,000 dead in a country of 30 million.

The consequence of that war, together with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments enacted just afterward, was to make the enslaved Africans and their descendants into citizens.

In the fullness of time, we have become equal citizens.

Should that have taken another 100 years? No.

Neither should my ancestors have been enslaved in the first place.

But here's the thing.

Slavery has been a commonplace human experience since antiquity.

Emancipation - The freeing of the slaves en masse.

That was a new idea. It was a Western idea.

It was the fruit of enlightenment.