1. Please feel free to point to a time - particularly one since the Middle Ages - when slavery was determined not as a matter of who was bought or sold, but as a matter of the color of one's skin. I like to refer to myself as an amateur historian, but I can't think of *any* other example.

2. Very true. But as of 1860, the rest of (what passed for) the developed world had already rejected slavery. It was only the Confederacy that demanded preservation of the institution of slavery.

3. Wrong. Racism has been around as long as there have been differences in skin color. Racism is a subset of prejudice, and people have a natural prejudice against those who are different, whether it be in terms of skin color, religion, height, or whatever.

4. Thank you.

5. Excuse me, but *every* Black man and woman has a direct relational history to slavery. It may not have involved your family's history at all, but the fact remains that - if you are White - your family was not only never subject to slavery, but America as a whole is still responsible for what we did to them. Remember, government of the people, for the people, by the people? If you're American, then you are part not only of what we did right, but also of what we did wrong.

6. Your family wasn't subject to Jim Crow laws, but - again - America is a land of government of the people, for the people, by the people. We can't accept shared credit for what America's done right without accepting shared blame for what America's done wrong.

7. Racism has existed as long as there has been different skin colors. The fact that we can't can't get rid of it does NOT mean we shouldn't stop fighting it.

8. And even the most successful of Black men and women can tell you that when they walk into a store, or walk down the street, they are subject to the same kind of suspicions and assumptions as the least of them. All one has to do is look at how often we Whites call the cops on them for the crime of having walked down the street where we live.