[rayiner]

The "how for do we have to go back" false equivalency is utterly ridiculous. We're not talking about the oppression of the Britons by the Romans here. We're talking about systematic oppression and viscious discrimination that was committed by the still-existing state and federal governments within the lifetime of people still living. Rosa Parks died in 2005. George H. W. Bush, who is still alive and kicking, is about 5 years older than MLK would have been today. Many TV shows I watched on Nick-at-Nite growing up (Dyk Van Dyke, Get Smart) were contemporaneous with violent school desegregation. The young people that were the subject of the showdown at the University of Alabama between the National Guard and Governor Wallace were just 7 years older than my dad.