Gates and those defending his charges of racism against the Cambridge police are reluctant to accept and admit America’s victories over racism. Roger L. Simon explores why and opines that the Gates affair illustrates a veritable “nostalgia for racism”:

The United States . . . has done the most to obliterate its racism in a concerted manner. . . . But when . . . values change, not everyone can adjust . . . not only the racist, but also those who depended on being victims of racism. . . . Henry Lewis Gates is evidently such a man. . . .
This is nostalgia for racism and our president probably suffers from it as well. . . .
Our universities are havens for this form of nostalgia, so it is not amazing that Gates would suffer from it. You don’t get a job in our academic world by saying America has conquered racism. . . . Large sectors of our society are dependent on an increasingly non-existent racism, not just obvious parties like Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright. We have a whole fabric of our culture endlessly clamoring for a “diversity” that is already accepted. . . .

Not only do many parties gain materially by continuing to play the victim card. Emotions also fuel the dynamic:

The secret wish of these people, buried not far from the surface, is for things not to have changed. They have a nostalgia for an evil past when they could feel self-righteous and victimized.

Time to bury this nostalgia so that all of us, together and in good faith, can at last move on.