When historians look back at the United States of America several centuries from now they will be amazed at how intractable and inscrutable the issue of race was in this country. They will also be amazed at the depth of commitment to self-deception that was adopted by the overwhelming majority of white Americans. And finally, they will be amazed that any white Americans were amazed when the daily grind of racism and racist behavior was brought to light – how they were shocked, absolutely shocked – like Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca was shocked that there was gambling in Rick’s Café, even as he pocketed his weekly payoff.

Let us count the ways in which America’s true color-blindness makes itself known. Consider the eight of the first ten American presidents were slaveholders – to be clear, they owned, sold, beat, raped and killed black Americans. Historical accounts indicate that there were no “nice” slave plantations, only different levels of Hell.

Yet the profitable human bondage presided over by these presidents are either airbrushed out of history or they are given a pass due to the “way things were in those days”. This historical malpractice might be acceptable to white Americans, but it is a cruel and sinful slap in the face for every black American. Indeed, the acceptance of this sad history is so pervasive and perverse that it is a cause for challenge and argument to contemplate the moral bankruptcy of this particular status quo.

Consider that just a few weeks ago a memorial to the wholesale lynching of black Americans opened in Montgomery, Alabama to muted and limited national news coverage. This, despite the fact that this memorial documents the fact that over 4,000 black men, women and children were lynched in these United States between 1876 and 1960.

And consider that while this domestic reign of terror rained true fire and fury on black Americans, white Americans of every political persuasion typically stood by, if they did not actively participate, as these atrocities were repeated with demonic regularity. Every U.S. President during this era from the feckless Rutherford Hayes to the Roosevelt cousins to the inveterate racist Wilson to Truman to Eisenhower to Kennedy, no American president or his supporters ever took a stand against the lynching of black Americans. And clearly lynching should be inextricably linked to slavery, America’s other original sin.

So it really should come as no surprise that when two peaceful black men were arrested for taking up space in a Starbuck’s that white Americans professed to be shocked at getting another glimpse at what a daily dose of racism looks like. Meanwhile black Americans are fully aware that the Starbuck’s treatment is just what the American Way looks like through brown eyes. It is a virtual truth that most black Americans have had their presence questioned – in a department store, hotel, first-class seat on an airplane, standing in the your grandmother’s backyard or just driving an expensive car – and the Starbuck’s Treatment is just part of what James Brown called “Living in America”.

The saddest part of this most recent evidence of the reality of racism in America is that now Starbucks will close all 8000 stores on May 29^th for a day-long session on “bias training”. What is so sad is that in 2018 white Americans need to be “trained” to treat black Americans like human beings.

And what every black American already knows is that one day will not be enough. Not at Starbucks. Not anywhere in these United States.