bigotry should never get a pass

I lose patience with the argument that because of someone's time, his limitations are therefore excusable or even praiseworthy. It is not true that it was impossible in that time and place to look any higher. Think of Wendell Phillips, who commenting on Abraham Lincoln's proposal to colonize Black people out of the country was sarcastic. He said, "Colonize the Blacks? A man might as well colonize his own hands, or when the robbers are in his house, he might as well colonize his revolver."


Barbara Fields