Talking about racism in the past can lead to a much more accepting view of the present if the person listening has any sense of rationality.  I have a strong view that people are equal and that there was no need or premise to assume difference based on something as trivial as the color of someones skin.  Being from the west coast, when someone argued about a north vs south topic, I would assume we were discussing NorCal vs SoCal.  We were taught that the south was wrong and no matter what their economy depended on, slavery or any other form of discrimination/segregation/prejudice. Talking about the atrocities of the past bring to light things that people may not think about when they say something racist or assume something based on something menial.  That is not to say that white people now should be inclined to be apologetic for something that was not their fault, but to think about what happened and ask themselves, “Did that make ANY sense?”

When presented with the question of whether or not the Montford Point Marines faces any discrimination overseas in a war zone, the Marines did not have to think twice before they answered, “No, during a war, everyone is thankful for whatever you can do to keep them alive.”  I think that this is an interesting point and a thought that should be expanded.  If a slave owner fell down from heat exhaustion and a slave came to his aid, would he still have so much hatred towards him that he would not accept his help and would rather die?  There are so many points that can be brought up in order to showcase the illegitimacy of racism and the completely baseless actions taken towards people of color in the past should be enough for anyone to see that they were completely wrong and we are in fact, no different from one another.

I would recommend taking 3 minutes out of your day to watch this video.  It does not deal with the past but has to do with much more than just the issue of race equality.  We are all the same, regardless of what we look like on the outside.