Tim Wise: To understand white denial about American history, consider two photos.

[Hekate]

16. Excellent post. I was just under 10 yo; we'd moved to O'ahu that May. I was fortunate that Mom...

…always had something to say about the news on TV, and I think that’s why I remember these events so clearly.

For one thing, she had a way of personalizing the Civil Rights movement when she spoke about it to me. As a white Roman Catholic girl born and raised in Colorado during a great resurgence of the KKK, she knew very well they didn’t just hate black people, but Jews and Roman Catholics with nearly equal virulence ( “Nearly” only because ethnic whites can more or less blend in as long as they keep their mouths shut and don’t “look” too ethnic. It was another time. ) Stand up for all — or you will be next.

As for Leave it to Beaver — she tended to be sarcastic about its fantasy world. But that was Mom all over — what she had to say about the Cinderella/Snow White/Prince fantasies was worse.