As an American living in Germany, I cannot help making comparisons between the inherited guilt of Whites in the U.S. to the Nazi legacy in Germany. Modern-day Germans (with the exception of a few octogenarians) are not guilty of Nazi war crimes, yet they have inherited the Nazi legacy - and they accept it. They can never undo the crimes, but they have atoned for them by paying victims and their descendants, changing the school curricula to have a strong focus on how Nazism could arise in the first place - and how to prevent a recurrence - and by completely reconfiguring the public attitude that led to the Nazi era. This was a long, painful process that took decades, but German society was transformed in the process - for the better.

The descendants of Holocaust victims are still suffering from the acts of WWII era Germans, so if the perpetrators are all dead, who is to blame? As Germans say, they have inherited the responsibility, if not the guilt.

White Americans must own up to their historic responsibility towards Blacks and indigenous Americans as well - even if they themselves are not guilty of being racists. They are part of the system. There will be no peace in American society until there is equal opportunity and justice.

A classmate of my daughter's asked the teacher how the Nazi regime could possibly come into power. How could people have been so stupid as to go along with it?

The teacher responded: "Easy! Just look at the United States right now!"

Watch out, America. Time is running out.