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Baynard Woods thought he had escaped the backwards ways of the South Carolina he grew up in, a world defined by country music, NASCAR, and the confederacy. He'd fled the South long ago, transforming himself into a politically left-leaning writer and educator.Then he was accused of discriminating against a Black student at a local university. How could I be racist? he wondered. Whiteness was a problem, but it wasn't really his problem. He taught at a majority Black school and wrote essays about education and Civil Rights.But it was his problem. Working as a reporter, it became clear that white supremacy was tearing the country apart. When a white kid from his hometown massacred nine Black people in Charleston, Woods began to delve into his family's history - and the ways that history has affected his own life.