The more things change

Larry Smith As far back as I can remember – which is quite a few decades at this point – I have heard the following lament (framed as a rhetorical question) from white people: “Why is everything about race?” The evil twin sister of that disingenuous interrogative is the following spurious accusation: “Black people are always playing the race card.” The exceedingly self-evident answer both to the question and to the accusation is that race is inextricably intertwined with the fabric of American society. “Everything is about race” in America because everything has always been about race in this nation – even before it became a nation. Yes, this sounds like circular logic; it isn’t. Race has affected (and infected) virtually every facet of our collective existence. Thus, the question should not be taken seriously because it isn’t a serious question. From colonial times to today, race has been cynically insinuated into innumerable situations wherein it should have no bearing. Yet, time and again, we see that is not the case. One very recent example concerns last week’s bridge collision and subsequent collapse in Baltimore. Phil Lyman, a state representative in Utah, weighed in on the catastrophe via X (formerly...