Virginia apologizes for slavery... why?

[NT!]

If you don't think that cultural and economic differences between whites and blacks in this country can be traced, at least partially, to the lingering effects of slavery and subsequent racist policies, you're either ignorant or an idiot.

(And I use 'you' in the general sense here, I am using quick reply so it's not directed at any poster in particular.)

Now, the question of what, if anything, should be done, or whether there is equality of opportunity today, is very different. But to suggest that segregation and Jim Crow are not still relevant, when many of the people holding elective office today were alive to see it or, in a few rare cases, participated in the process, is absolutely absurd. There is no other word for it. Absurd. Society doesn't completely change overnight, or even over a generation.