Ebert's attitude towards all this has certainly made me respect him a whole lot more, but after the conversations I've had even with some of my own friends (generally fairly intelligent, political, liberal people) who just weren't getting the race angle (or able to place enough importance on it), I can't help feeling pessimistic. We'll see, I guess. I do feel as though the whitewashing of TLA has gotten more press than that issue usually does, which is something.