I think it’s a travesty that black service members were denied the same benefits as white G.I.s. And I agree, home-ownership was often harder for blacks.

Plus, immigrants come to the U.S. voluntarily. But black slaves did not.

That being said, we have come a long way since the end of the Civil War.

When Teddy Roosevelt was President, he had Booker T. Washington to the White House to have dinner with his family, and it caused a scandal. Yet, in 2008, we had a black President. That is HUGE progress.

Back in the early ’90s, I worked in a small town in South Carolina and routinely went out to eat with black and white co-workers and friends, and that was something we could never have done just a few decades before.

I have several friends in inter-racial marriages. They are accepted by society at large and so are their children. I live in a neighborhood that is diverse — white, Asian, Hispanic and black families all live here. Before Covid, I’d see their children playing with each other.

Look at political power throughout the country — there are many mayors that are black, judges, congressmen, etc., who are black.

None of this would have been possible 50 years ago. So I think our country has come a long way. I’m not saying discrimination has vanished, obviously racism still exists, but no one nowadays would stick Rosa Parks in the back of a bus. Those days are gone.