The civil war is over. Black emancipation is a long established political fact. However, one hundred fifty years has not been long enough for social and economic equality to have become a fact of American life. Blacks and whites still commonly live in two divergent Americas.

Opportunities for whites are not the same for blacks. In education, housing, job opportunities blacks do not share the same world as whites. Regarding legal justice: visit any courtroom and the divide is clear. Reactionary whites blame this on black crime, or inherent black incompetence. Blacks blame it on white racism and inability to help them attain social parity.

A century and one half after black slavery clearly is not long enough for Americans to have come to grips with either the letter or the spirit of the law regarding black emancipation. It has proved to be too short a time for whites and blacks to come anywhere near viewing each other as equal citizens of America.

As the dominant social, financial, and political powers-that-be in America, whites carry the burden of assisting the black community to gain educational, social, and financial parity with whites. The division of country caused by the division of perspective by both sides is untenable.

If this country is to continue pretending it is “Christian” [a belief I have long held as dubious] it is time to fish or cut bait. Whether an avowed Christian nation or a socially secular humanist nation, America should have long ago held out its hand and its financial power to blacks and helped them educate their children and obtain a deeper and equitable financial and social relationship to whites. It is long past time to do so.