I find it strange that some commenters considered this essay “hate filled”, and reacted with what can only be described as anger. I found Zarons’ essay more of an intellectual exercise, a “what if”, an examination of history. This specific, and wider kneejerk anger directed at Black Americans for not blindly and passively accepting the sins of past and present, and “getting on with it” is both dismissive, and condescending. I doubt Mr. Burnett thinks about this all day… he does his work, eats, sleeps, and hangs with family and friends (some of the latter probably being white). But always with that subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) backdrop of an often complicated and conflicted past and present. Discussion and dialogue, like this essay, is what brings people together, resolves disputes, examines the good and bad of our shared history, and potentially heals divisions brought about by prejudice and inequality, by acknowledging and understanding the other point of view. If he DID decide to change his last name, he would essentially be owning it, rather than it owning him. To dismiss him as “just another angry black man” because he asks questions, perpetuates the kind of flawed, defensive thinking that has, and continues to divide America in many different ways. Kind of depressing, really.