It can be argued that perhaps the key issue which separates the United States from the other 17 world democracies is that this nation was built in no small way on the backs of chattel slavery, an institution which has had an impact not only on the “race” of people whom were enslaved, but the entire sociopolitical structure of the nation itself. Not only has slavery, and the justification of slavery and domination which we know today as racism, affected the relationships between those of African-Americans and the dominant “race” (Caucasians) - as well as other people of color whose entrance and experiences in this nation, however problematic, were different by the very nature of how they came to be in America - but it has also blurred the line between the powerful and rich and the rest of us who share a class consciousness’ (or who should!)
