I don't know if you saw this but the original copy of that pledge that they signed said that black people were better off in the time of slavery.
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blog...er-slavery
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blog...er-slavery
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell