The truth is this: much of the hell black people catch in this country today is rooted in the enduring legacy of racist practices in every domain of American life—legacies that we ritually deny or acknowledge only in stories about “perfecting the Union.” But if we’re honest, we see the pervasive effects of those practices in education, in housing, in the labor market, in disparities in health, and in the rate of poverty. In each instance, the practices and habits of white supremacy—practices that shaped the lives of my parents—ensured that white people would benefit and black people would
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