Huffington Magazine Issue 59 | Page 52

‘STILL NOT FREE’ more than two centuries of slavery and a third of official segregation, the legal, political and social advancements since 1963 are impressive, even astonishing. We are not a perfect Union, but we are less imperfect in fundamental and decent ways. “Jim Crow is gone, housing and school segregation are gone, voting rights are in, millions were registered, blacks voted in a higher percentage than whites in 2012,” Jackson noted. “We have won a lot of victories.” Racial diversity is accepted as a social norm, good not only for the soul and society but for the economy and even, if not especially, for corporate management. The president, who measures the culture in part by watching his daughters, took note of the changed tone. “It doesn’t mean that racism is eliminated,” he said earlier this month. “But when I talk to Malia and Sasha, and I listen to their friends and I see them interact: They’re better than we are — they are better than we were — on these issues. And that is true in every community that I have visited all across the country.” But cold federal statistics add HUFFINGTON 07.28.13 “… when I talk to Mali H[