There was a powerful story in the NY Times Wednesday about the ancestry of Michelle Obama. It captured the convergence of a shameful past and a proud present. It demonstrated why the past is not separate from the present. And it also highlighted why race is often more than just black and white. Simply put, it's worth reading:

In the annals of American slavery, this painful story would be utterly unremarkable, save for one reason: This union, consummated some two years before the Civil War, represents the origins of a family line that would extend from rural Georgia, to Birmingham, Ala., to Chicago and, finally, to the White House.

The Times keeps the conversation going today with some of the leading black thinkers on race. Provocative questions are raised. As Mary Frances Berry noted: 

So far ... race-mixture stories have not led to grappling with the difficult subject of the meaning of race.