Tim Wise began his February 3 talk by crediting women and men of color for doing the hardest work. In particular, he honored the British Stuart Hall, known as the “godfather of multiculturalism,” who has just died.

“Having done this work for 25 years, I have learned a few lessons: The problem we confront is far far bigger than anything we imagined. After graduating from Tulane, I worked against David Duke’s campaign for governor. He lost, but not because of white people — 6 out of 10 whites voted for him. Black people saved us and said ‘you can thank us later.’ We asked ourselves, who is the enemy here? I knew that 6 out of 10 whites were not ‘that far gone’ (so what happened?)

David Duke scapegoated. He said that black and brown took slots for college and jobs — and then he said they don’t…