And history teaches that, in place of cynicism, we can acknowledge the human limitations of those Plessy judges, and the humanity, ultimately, of the judicial institution. It teaches us to avoid the presumption of those who confuse the present with past.
We need to learn these lessons. Because where history's understanding is missing, cynicism will take its place. And because cynicism about one institution of government at one time may not remain contained to that institution, or confined to government simply at that time. And because governments that are not accorded legitimacy cannot govern.
That's what's at stake. So we cannot dispense with the historical way of looking at the world in front of us, which is why we have to make it an article of faith that schools should teach from history books, and teachers should take the lead in developing a sense of history in every mind they can open.
If the people coming of age do develop that faculty of taking the longer view, they will at least be in a position, some day, to understand how the consequences of the constitutional promises can change as the nation's past recedes; and as receding it leaves men and women able to perceive what an earlier generation could not so clearly see, or face so readily. And they will not become cynical or discouraged without just cause.
