The April 12 editorial presents a fine historical background on the end of the Civil War (“Our View: What Appamattox tells us about race today”). However, your comparison of racism then and now is faulty.
First let me state that there is racism in this country today, just as in the past. Anyone who thinks we will ever wipe out bigotry and hate is a dreamer. Today, what is being described as racism has far more to do with ideology than actual hatred of an entire race.
For the eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency I was called a racist for opposing his policies. I would have opposed those policies if he had been white, blue or from Mars.
One need only look at how black conservatives are treated to understand that the definition of racism has little to do with skin color. Currently, Herman Cain, Ben Carson, Candice Owens, and many other successful, intelligent black citizens are described as “Uncle Tom” or worse because they support conservative principles. In the past, these same accusations were leveled at Justice Clarence Thomas.
At the start of the Civil War, slavery was an accepted practice in the Southern states. They lost. Nobody in the United States owns slaves anymore.
For people who disagree with conservative principles to call everyone and anyone who supports conservatism “racist” diminishes the word, and shows that they are unable to mount an intelligent argument is support of their position.

Paul Anderson
Augusta