Brown v. Board of Education, in my view, split American history. I am certain for African Americans it did. It split American
history into a kind of A.D. and B.C. Prior to Brown, either as a consequence of slavery or a consequence of segregation, African
Americans were subordinated one way or another by law.
I thought one of the most eloquent statements that a president has made about race was the statement that George W. Bush made in Philadelphia last spring when he was attempting to quell the reaction to Trent Lott’s statement at the retirement party for Strom Thurmond. Now, some people might be surprised to hear that. But George W. Bush said that “[e]very day that our nation was segregated was a day our nation was unfaithful to our founding ideals.”