“Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.” 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

Cognitive inertia refers to the tendency for beliefs or sets of beliefs to endure once formed. In particular, cognitive inertia describes the human inclination to rely on familiar assumptions and exhibit a reluctance and/or inability to revise those assumptions, even when the evidence supporting them no longer exists or when other evidence would question their accuracy.

from https://psynso.com/cognitive-inertia/

Yes, it still exists in the 21st century: Redemption, The Lost Cause, White Supremacy, and reclaiming illusions of a monochromatic white America. Many thought the Civil War ended 159 years ago at Appomattox Court House. Nuance goes deep into the core of the so-called great experiment. It reveals that the rebellion’s leaders against the American Union were never tried for treason. As a result, many were free to create a narrative that has apolitically shapeshifted its existence throughout American history.

Bryan Stevenson said, “The North won the Civil War, but the South won the narrative war. They weren’t required to repudiate and acknowledge the wrongfulness of bigotry and slavery.”

Negative Cognitive inertia drives Ideologies from Christian Nationalism, Political extremism, Nativism, Tribalism, etc.; it adversely affects BIPOC populations, Allies, Advocates, and all Americans. Healing can only happen in the air and light of truth, as stated by Dr. King. In this Hotter Than July 2024 Issue, Three-Fifths Magazine exposes lies of old and their connection to the present. Truth is a fundamental prerequisite to any conversation on healing.