I'm sad about Toni Morrison - I did not know she passed away!

Whites who say a certain group is inferior are, as you said, covering up their own deficiencies. And hey, I wouldn't mind a little darker skin, if only for the aesthetics. It would be a lot better than staring at this pasty white, splotchy mess every morning.

When it comes to attitudes towards Black folks though. I think it goes deeper than a little projection. It's about fear. Many white folks are afraid of Black folks, so they overcompensate.

The fear is passed generationally and probably started when whites had to confront what may have very well been their superiors.

Think about what it must have taken to survive first a middle passage, then afterward, either immediate enslavement or a coffle from an Eastern seaboard city to the south - a nonstop 500+ mile march, often after being ripped away from family members. That took more than physical prowess. I suspect that slaves displayed their smarts every day in ways that terrified their tormenters, and the fact that these tormenters were tormenting them was itself an added reason to be afraid.

There's a reason Black congregations (of any kind, church or otherwise) were limited. These were smart, physically strong people on the receiving end of the whip. So white daddy says to white son, "These people are just animals." Deep down, knowing the opposite is true.

Whites are still afraid of Black people. But who in their right mind is intimidated by a member of an inferior race? So what are modern whites afraid of? Their loss of entitlement? I guess so, but what would that loss of entitlement look like? Would opening pathways for Blacks create some mysterious lack of opportunity for whites? History suggests otherwise. It would instead simply expand opportunity for everyone.

I think deep down inside many whites have a reverence for Black folks. This shows itself mostly in the appreciation whites have for the contributions Blacks have made to the arts, music, culture, and sports. There's also an awareness among whites that Blacks are sort of just the cooler kids on the block. That's not a PC thing to say, and it's a stereotype, but I think it's how people think.

But this reverence blends in toxic ways with an underlying fear promoted by years of generational oppression and entitlement.

That's one reason I like things like Black History Month and similar fetes. Celebrating Black contributions helps remove the stain that covers this reverence that people have towards Black Americans.

I think the reverence is real, but so is the fear, especially among the simple-minded. It's up to whites to develop a zero-tolerance policy towards the simple-minded people who promote racism. That has not happened, obviously. And it is an absolute requirement for progress.