My grandparents were born around the turn of the 20th century. They had lots of siblings (as most people did in those days). They all became young adults around WWI. On my dad's side, I had a great uncle John who was almost completely deaf from his artillery service in WWI. John had two brothers, Kenneth (my favorite) and Harold (aka Joe), and two sisters one of which was my grandmother. This is all on my dad's side. They were all farmers who lived and worked together. The point is, these are people I knew personally and are part of my childhood memories.
Imagine if we were black, and not in the mid-west but in Louisiana. Uncle Joe died in 1925 when he was lynched. The entire family history is changed, and the story of that lynching and the threat of another would hang over the entire family and color our entire existence and the existence of all our family and neighbors.
So when people now (as in the last couple of days) rail on Obama about mentioning the crimes of Christianity (you know, those KKK guys have a cross on their outfits) saying this is all ancient history...I say, "Get Real". (OK, what I really say is unprintable). When people say that we are in a "post-post-racial" America...I say, "You're in denial."
For African Americans, this is a very personal and intimate part of their reality. We're going to need 100 years after the last Michael Brown "post-post-racial lynching" before we as a country will really be able to move on.