I gave up protecting my feelings when I proposed reparations at a meeting in Atlanta in 1968 and was roundly rejected by two peers who were at that point under the influence of the times — it was a sad event for me. The general reality in terms of that move past the beloved community has remained in place and was only a trifle dimmed by the reaction of the families of the slain in Charleston. Back in the maelstrom of the late 1960s I lost a career and was rewarded with going-on five decades to think about things. I’m still the same person I was. I have no need or desire to validate myself or pass muster. And I will not agree that anyone can with full accuracy characterize anyone or anything. We are all fallible and we are all travelling at the same speed attached to the same cosmos. We all know what we want. We have not yet found a way to get there.