Hmmm, I'm not sure how I can acknowledge something that I have no evidence of. The fact there's been progress since the days of Emmett Till should go without saying, no? But these private efforts, though I don't doubt they exist, are just that. Private. Almost by definition there's not much I can say about them.

Also, though I've never denied tha there has been progress, it could just as easily be argued that I "left out" decades of cruelty, violence and bigotry. The road from Mamie Till to today has been anything but smooth for black people in America. I left out all the private conversations like this one to give just one example of many that I do have evidence of.

I left these out because the entire point was to leave out the point scoring. I'm not trying to defend white people or criticise them. Though to be honest, if I was trying to give a totally honest accounting, I'm not sure these mostly working class Americans would come off too well. My point is that people need to move past the defensiveness and the blaming and come together.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like you're trying to defend "your side" in this debate. I'm trying to point beyond that way of thinking.