Racism remains the central problem in our culture; its brutal persistence brings out the ugliest features of the national character. I have spent quite a bit of time reading, writing, and thinking about race, and no small effort opposing racism’s malevolent expression. We must clearly grasp the difference between race—the culturally determined base of identity upon which social benefit and stigma rests—and racism—the sordid expression of prejudice and hatred against a racial group with the sanction of law and social custom. Otherwise, we won’t make much headway in understanding why it is sometimes helpful to take race into account, even as we continue to fight against white supremacy, one of the most destructive forms of racism in history.