article_snippet.sent: (CNN)The cover-up is often worse than the crime.
article_snippet.sent: But providing a window into the importance of slavery's past to America's present should never just be about what makes for good television.
article_snippet.sent: What a teachable moment for the country.
article_snippet.sent: The original script, reprinted on Gawker and elsewhere, makes it clear, however, that the slave-owner angle makes for better television.
article_snippet.sent: But you know, there it is, part of our history.
article_snippet.sent: Your mom went back fighting for the rights of black people in Mississippi, 100 years later.
article_snippet.sent: "Indeed, people like my mother and many others who have made a much better America than the one that they were handed.
article_snippet.sent: And indeed when a public figure -- a celebrity -- chooses to confront the past like this, instead of ignoring this, a public figure -- a celebrity -- can provide a powerful example to a country that struggles daily with the roots of racism in this present.
article_snippet.sent: White Americans' lack of comfort in talking about slavery, race and the places in our society where racism continues to fester is at the heart of why even with a black president, we are still, as a country, far from post-racial.