Many people believe that the election of a black president would advance America to a new era of racial harmony.

That belief proved to be mistaken.

In retrospect, it was naive to think that a single event, even the election of a black president,

would wash away a stain so deeply ingrained in our culture.

The debate about how much racism there is in America, and specifically the disparity between the races, is just as fierce as ever.

That's okay with me.

Discrimination still exists.

Let's deal with it openly and honestly.

Unfortunately, that's very hard to do.

One reason I've discovered is that many people feel that they have to treat blacks with kid gloves.

They think this is noble, enlightened, progressive.

It's not.

It's demeaning and condescending.

In fact, it's racist.

A recent experience brought this home to me.

In an anthropology class, my professor decided to discuss the shooting of Michael Brown, a black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Before I tell you what transpired, I need to tell you something about this professor.

First of all, I like her very much.

She's interesting and engaging, but more importantly, she took a non-PC approach to the class, which I found refreshing.

She encouraged us to study the data dispassionately and draw our conclusions from that.

But when the subject of Ferguson came up, all this objectivity went out the window.

When a classmate said, following the debate over the details of the case, that the facts ultimately don't matter, my professor agreed.

...