What on Earth

"What on earth
is the matter with the American people?"

I ask the question that Fredrick Douglass
asked.  I ask it again,

 "What on earth is wrong with the
American people?"

How do I tell my son
people turn against each other
with little provocation
beyond the color of the skin?

I am embarrassed. 

I am not even sophisticated

enough to complete Douglass's

question and ask,  

"Do they really covet the world's ridicule 

as well as their own social and political ruin?”

I just want to know,

what do I tell my son?