Agreed. However, ignorance and prejudice do not disappear because you think that is what they are.
The Serbs and Croats, for instance, speak the same language, although they use different scripts for writing it. Nobody else in the world can really tell them apart, and I would assume they sometimes have trouble themselves. But that hasn't stopped them from engaging in enthusiastic tribal warfare for centuries.
When I said Lincoln was prophetic, it was with regard to his concern that the continued presence of the black race in America would lead to extended conflict. Are you trying to say that he was wrong about that? If so, you will have to deny much of the history of the last 1.5 centuries.
Perpetuation of ignorance and stupidity is no justification for public policy. There will never be any justification to discriminate against anyone on account of what color they are.
Absolutely. However, public policy based on the assumption that ignorance and stupidity will disappear because they should is even dumber.
Look at the history of black and white relations in America over the last 40 years. From what I can see, every decrease in white racism has been matched by an equal and opposite increase in black racism.
And they are going to move into your neighborhood and steal your babies and put them in a big pot and boil them and eat them.
The Serbs and Croats, for instance, speak the same language, although they use different scripts for writing it. Nobody else in the world can really tell them apart, and I would assume they sometimes have trouble themselves.
Fenians and Orangemen speak the same language (mostly) and use the same script. Do not assume they cannot tell each other apart. Indigenous people can see things you do not.
For example, unless something has changed, were I to look at the awning of a shop in downtown Londonderry, Northern Ireland, I might just be able to tell you whether the owner of the shop is Catholic or Protestant. You might be oblivious.
And, of course, a Yank sticks out like a sore thumb. I have seen them identified from blocks away just from the way they walk. (In Europe, we are all Yankees. Of course, it is always amusing to observe a European calling a Southerner a Yankee.)
When I said Lincoln was prophetic, it was with regard to his concern that the continued presence of the black race in America would lead to extended conflict. Are you trying to say that he was wrong about that? If so, you will have to deny much of the history of the last 1.5 centuries.
I am not trying to say Lincoln was wrong, I am saying it flatly, in caps and bold-face. LINCOLN WAS WRONG. It is not the continued presence of the Black race that leads to extended conflict. It is the continued prejudice and ignorance of some of the White race that leads to extended conflict. You cannot rightfully blame your prejudice and your ignorance on the person against whom you discriminate.
Apparently the continued presence of the Red race was considered unendurable as well. The solution was genocide.
Apparently, now the continued presence of Latinos (Lincoln referred to them as "mongrels") will become a similar problem.
If a problem exists, it is not attributable to the continued presence of the Black, Red, or Brown Americans.
I did not mean to leave out Yellow people. During WW2, we took American citizens of Japanese ethnicity and imprisoned them in detention camps. The problem was not with these Americans of Japanese ancestry either.