It will never not be sadly funny that, of course, America designated its shortest month to be the one honoring Black History.

This year, however, it’s less sadly funny than just plain sad.

Ever since the uprisings last summer, set off by the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police, structural racism has been part of the national discourse like never before. Some folks are just waking up to its insidious, rampant nature; others feel alternately vindicated by this new awareness and betrayed by its tardiness; and others still have merely doubled down on denying that the problem even exists.

In the months since the George Floyd protests led President Trump to call Black Lives Matter “toxic propaganda,” Black voters came out in full force to elect a new president . . . only to see a coalition of white supremacists attempt to reverse that outcome by force. That they failed is less a cause for celebration than a reason to reflect on why they attempted their coup in the first place.

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