Eugene Robinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post, signs his slave name to his weekly columns because he does not know his real name.

Signing our name is something we all do and never give a second thought about. I’m no different. But the other day I grasped that there are millions of people in our country who when they sign their name, it is the name of the slave owner of their ancestors. They do not know what their real name is and never will. That is one legacy of slavery in our country. It is more than a legacy, it is degrading and hateful on a level that I truly will never be able to comprehend. Why? I’m white and my name and ancestry can be traced and has been. Yet if you are Black, it is more than likely that can never know what your real name is.

Family is important to all of us, yet those millions in our country who know their ancestors were slaves will never know their real name as it is lost forever. Now Gov. DeSantis is dictating revisionist history to be taught to children that slavery was good for the enslaved. There is no outcry from Republicans about this. Just the opposite: Every Republican in our country supports that belief about slavery. Don’t think so? Then name the Republicans who have spoken out against revisionist racial history.

The Alabama Republican governor and Republican-controlled legislature are defying our Supreme Court on how congressional district maps should be drawn. Republicans reject having two majority Black congressional districts despite 25.9% of the state’s population being Black.

Racism thrives in our country and unless you are Black or a person of color you cannot grasp how destructive it is to live your entire life under it.

Mike Grove

Belgrade Lakes