America's ongoing crisis in cultural identity is at the root of its social unrest, and can be traced to a Cartesian preoccupation with essence driven by colonial ethnocide. An existential awakening is required to mend the nation's deep divides, writes Barrett Pitner. 

As a Black American, my familiarity with the absurdity of American society is all I have ever known. How could a society that projects itself as a beacon of freedom for the world also be built around slavery? How could a global champion for democracy systematically deprive Black Americans of their voting rights? How could a pillar for the rule of law also have a legal system that disproportionately sentences Black Americas to longer prison sentences than white Americans? The list of American hypocrisies that Black Americans must confront can easily make you question your own sanity.