The long agony of racism

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After the brutal death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, America saw an explosion of protest marches across the country. By mid-June, the New York Times reported, demonstrations had taken place in 2,000 cities and towns in all 50 states and in many places abroad.
   
While many protests focused on police violence, the events of the spring have brought to the fore a broader conversation about systemic racism in the United States—a conversation that has been with us for centuries.
   
The Yale Alumni Magazine asked three Yale faculty members to write on this moment in race relations.

Their essays follow.

“A devastating and ruinous history" by Larry Gladney

“Rewriting the end” by Emily Greenwood

“Race relations at this perilous moment” by Gerald Jaynes