Here’s a quote from an article on William Ellison that you linked to: “A light-skinned black man, he drew a line between himself and his slaves. He had only dark slaves on his plantation.” The fact that you didn’t see this, or didn’t remember it, shows that you are subconsciously cherry picking. You’re just doing the flipside of what people like Marley K. do: she makes everything about race, and and you try to remove race and make everything about class. This kind of adversarial relationship can sometimes lead to the truth. that’s why I read both of you. But right now there is so much adversity that we really need some nuance.