In conversations about our nation’s original sin and its aftermath, don’t talk to me about slavery in other civilizations over the course of human history.

Our nation celebrates founding documents according to which “all men are created equal”. Our nation has a Constitution that guarantees the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness to all citizens.

The problem with Americans pointing to other societies that harbored the institution of slavery is that other societies are perfectly irrelevant to the question of whether our society lives up to its own ideals.

We as Americans purport to believe that all men are created equal. When we fail to live up to that ideal it should be a source of shame. Where we have failed to live up to that ideal, we lack integrity. We are hypocrites.

Don’t tell me what anyone else has done or is doing. It’s perfectly irrelevant. Either we believe in these ideals or we don’t. Either we’ve lived up to these ideals or we haven’t.