Racism and the national soul

How deep does American racism go?

And is it possible to uproot it?

Or will it simply -- endlessly -- shift shape, wrap itself in the political correctness of the day and morph, say, from slavery to Jim Crow, from Jim Crow to stand-your-ground laws, gerrymandering and voter suppression?

At some point, the forces of sanity and survival must prevail and we must face this stain on the national soul with terrifying and transcendent honesty -- and eliminate it. But how, oh God, how?

Every "legal" murder -- by police, by private citizens -- of a human being of color brings up such questions. The