The massacre in South Carolina is not a faint echo of our national shame of slavery. It is the intentional perpetuation of it's evil in other forms. Emancipation did not end slavery; sharecropping, peonage, lynchings, cross burnings, redlining; these things were consciously engineered to permanently relegate black American citizens to second class status. Today's “war on drugs” from all the available evidence, has become an institutionalized war on black citizens. After the civil war (and today) enraged bigots put black people on notice that they'd never get, and dare not claim the freedoms white people enjoy.
Bigots are, at their core, afraid. The thing they fear most is a challenge to thier "superiority" by the vote. They do not want every American to vote, only white ones. If your state has a voter ID law or gerrymandered congressional districts, you live with tangible evidence of legalized hate.
Hate is a cancer on our nation. It is taught to new generations -it is carried on as tradition, it has become paramilitary. Hate keeps good people from work, housing, medical care and education. It is the root cause of the decay of whole communities. Being white, I cannot imagine what it must be like to wake up everyday knowing your world is stacked against you. That no matter where you go, no matter what you achieve, lying in wait is a bigot looking to tear you down. That even in the sanctity of your church you may be gunned down. The senseless waste of human potential is staggering. I weep for my friends who must endure this. I admire them all the more for thier courage in the face of it.
You could sense the weary frustration in the President's voice:
"Now is the time for mourning and healing, but let's be clear: at some point, we as a country, will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries."
It seems to me his is speaking not only of guns but the hate behind them, as many of these tragedies are fueled by it. Imagine where this country could have been if we didn't have hate constantly eating away at our potential and mocking the revolutionary concept of individual freedom we ourselves birthed into the world.