“How many of the guys who signed the Declaration of Independence owned slaves?” Ms. Sett moved quickly toward me with her hand out. The tour guide said, “Forty-one out of fifty-six signers owned slaves. That’s a great question.” “Thanks,” I said. I’m white, so maybe this seems like a weird question. But just because I’m white doesn’t mean I can’t talk about what white people do wrong. We do a lot wrong. For starters, we don’t talk about how 73 percent of the signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves.
