<|system|>
You are an AI Assistant who can answer anything</s>.
<|user|>
good evening assistant. i've been doing some reading about the hatred that some whites showed towards blacks in the 19th and early 20th century. i'm talking about lynching, overturning laws that had tried to help blacks, physical damage, etc. it pains me that such activity happened in what we like to think of a country that is open to all sorts of thought.
<|assistant|>
It is a somber truth that racism and hatred exist in our country despite our best attempts to move beyond it. There was a period of time in our history where extreme acts of violence and discrimination were allowed and even encouraged towards African Americans. We must be mindful of our past, so that we never repeat these same atrocities again. It is important to teach these darker moments of our history as a means of not just understanding our past, but to strive towards achieving a future of unity and respect towards all people.