Get a hair shirt and a whip to pay penance. Slavery was wrong, there was a civil war and America got rid of slavery. To my knowledge no other country went to war to remove slavery. That was then, this is now. If you believe that the state of blacks in America is a direct result of slavery then there is something perverse.

I grew up in black Africa, as a white person, and I can tell you 99% of blacks there - who were not subjected to slavery - live far far worse lives and have far less opportunity than those in the US - so by your logic slavery somehow benefited blacks.

Before I lived in the US I used to visit regularly with black colleagues. We used to travel through seedy parts of Chicago and reflected on how many blacks elsewhere would be grateful to live in such circumstances. Many things are in the eye of the beholder.

Fact is many people confuse equality of opportunity with equality of outcome. There may be some racism in the US, but by and large it is far less than in other societies including Europe, China or India and I suspect the ME. I have lived in Europe and India and visited China regularly. The difference in China, of course, is that the white man is considered the inferior creature. (I suspect you have never ventured offshore so making your sweeping uninformed statements is kinda facile.)

The US is sure not perfect, but the fact that Obama, and Rice and Powell are or have been in significant positions bodes well for the future of the society.