It finally happened. An original pancake house was opening in Columbus, Ohio, and I could not wait to go.

It had been one of my favorite breakfast spots in Atlanta when I was working on my dissertation,

although I was never able to eat there as much as I wanted. When you're a graduate student, even eggs are expensive.

The Columbus restaurant was just like the Atlanta one.

The mouth-watering aroma of buttermilk pancakes greeted you well before you reached the door.

Pure deliciousness.

Once I was inside, I gave my name to the hostess and took a seat in the small waiting area.

That's when I noticed what was playing on the television.

I forget which cable news network the TV was tuned to, but I'll never forget what was being broadcast.

Although the TV was muted, the images spoke volumes.

It was Saturday, August 12th, 2017, and all hell had broken out in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The night before, I had caught glimpses on the news of the white supremacist Tiki Torch March,

and I had assumed that would be the worst of it.

But the white supremacist, who claimed to be there to protest the decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee,

clearly were there to provoke violence.

I totally lost my appetite.

Things got much worse in Charlottesville as the day wore on. And when it was over, those white supremacists had killed one person and injured several dozen more. In the wake of that horrible event,

contemporary issues of race and culture

began to be confused and muddled in ill-informed discussions

of slavery, the Confederacy, and the Civil War.

Making matters worse, the misinformation was amplified

by politicians, the media, and even ordinary people online.

...