The practice and the legal structure that supported slavery precedes the creation of the United States. When the Constitution is formed in 1787, there’s already been maybe 150 years of slavery. So these racist and white supremacist and exploitative practices are engrained in the society before the government of the United States is created, and the government of the United States is created out of that. The government of the United States has to continue to support that in some fashion. – Kathleen Neal Cleaver (1945- )