I understand. It’s really scary to write something that sounds anything like it could be an excuse for racist behavior…and the idea that the people in these yearbook photos “knew better” is something I’ve seen in a lot of writings, but we really have no way to be sure they did. We weren’t there.
They certainly know better now, of course.
I remember wanting to make a video about modern-day segregation and how it produces police that racially profile, but I had a similar fear of it being construed as “making an excuse” when really I just wanted to highlight a contributing factor worth fixing.