So I'm reading one of the most brilliant explorations of American Racism that I've ever read.
It's this book, a history: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy by Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed, now at Harvard as both a legal scholar and a historian.
The section on where Thomas Jefferson fit on the "spectrum" of white racists - between those who can be personally affable with individual African-Americans but who are extremely racist in the abstract (which leaches into the criminal laws under which Jefferson existed) - was one of the most inciteful descriptions of the psychology of racism I've ever seen, and struck me personally, explaining issues in my own family.
She beautifully takes apart the views of major Jefferson biographers, tracing the source of their excuses for the reality that Jefferson had a sexual relationship with a slave.
It's all handled in a matter-of-fact, nonconfrontational manner, showing some respect to Jefferson the genius, and Jefferson the autocratic thug slave holder.
I just thought I'd recommend this outstanding book, which uses a "founding father" as a prism to explain the deep wound on which our country was founded and has not healed as yet.
If you want to understand your country, this might be a good book to read.
Dr. Gordon-Read's work is referenced repeatedly at the Monticello website: The Life of Sally Hemmings.
These important works are threatened by the ignorant racist fascist pig Ron DeSantis. He must be rejected or the country will die, for sure.
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