One of the lessons black people can learn from this political era is to appreciate the extent of the fear that causes people to resort to mental gymnastics and the desperate rejection of reality to justify their commitment to white supremacy. Clearly, they will sacrifice democracy to hold on to power. Their conservatism is not ideological, it is positional. They are not afraid of us. They are afraid because they cannot conceive of living in a country that actually embraces equality -- where their advantages are no longer assumed, much less guaranteed.
