The holiday doesn’t mark an end to racism. It reminds us of its consistency.

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It is far too easy to speak of racism in such terms.

That, because there is a Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, racism “is over” or that “we’ve come so far.”

The desire isn’t to be bad, of course. But to ignore, avoid, or otherwise refuse to recognize a current problem.

AND

It is an attempt to find absolute meaning from the Civil Rights Movement. Absolute in the sense that a successful movement led to real change and therefore must be done. Otherwise, it would be a failure.

But here’s the thing.

The post-racial message is extremist.

It refuses to acknowledge the truth: that racism is complicated. That success can be celebrated and that we are far from done.

As my friend, Clay Rivers names, we’re entering another Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend with another unarmed black man killed by police.

So…there’s clearly work to do.