How terribly sad, especially in light of the inconvenient fact that historically, by far and away the vast majority of interracial violence in this country has been both incited and perpetrated by white people.

The history of lynch mobs in the country is both well-known and well-documented; suffice to say that thousands of non-whites suffered violent deaths at their hands. Less well-known are the worst instances, when whole towns and sections of cities (see Rosewood, FL and Tulsa, OK) were targets of white rage. Buildings were razed, businesses were looted, hundreds of African-Americans lost their lives and thousands more fled for theirs.

One of the first things we need to do in overhauling of public educational systems around the country is require a least two years of comprehensive and all-encompassing American history -- the the great, the good, the bad and the downright ugly -- to be taught again in public high schools as a non-elective subject.

We've allowed whole sections of the country with overwhelming majority-white populations -- and you know who you are -- to wallow delusionally in its own pseudo-cultural mythmaking for far too long.

Their collectively willful obstinance and ignorance is not only a severe hindrance to overall progress in our multi-cultural and multi-thnic society, it has proved a mortal threat to to the health of American democracy far too many times in our own short history to be tolerated or taken lightly any longer.

Even if McCain sweeps the six states that are too close to call, he still seemingly won't have enough votes to prevail, according to the analysis, which is based on polls, the candidates' TV spending patterns and interviews with Democratic and Republican strategists. McCain does have a path to victory but it's a steep climb: He needs a sudden shift in voter sentiment that gives him all six toss-up states plus one or two others that now lean toward Obama.