"How can we not carry on a conversation about the state of America without talking about racism?" Truitt asks.
William Gaither, another cousin, says many people believe it's time to move on from this kind of conversation. "But we can't move on, because there is no truth and no reconciliation," he says.
Gaither is recently retired from the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. He doesn't agree with the theory that America moved into a post-racial era when Obama was elected.
"That's sort of like a cave for hiding," Adams says. She says denying racism keeps the country from reaching its full economic potential.
"You know, a lot of what we are experiencing will not go away until we admit the most outstanding and devastating problem in this country, and it is that people are treated differentially only because they are of a different color," she says.
