"As to the US being a police state - a few days ago NPR run a program on assets seisures and forfeitures ..."
I have started reading R.B. Traven's jungle novels, a set of six novels recounting the events leading up to and around the Mexican revolution. Traven is magnificent. A born story teller and brilliant in being able to expose the core of historic relationships... In the first novel, "Government," the story mostly centers around how the colonial occupiers use "justice" to extract the maximum tribute, in labor and money, from the native population.
Yes, in some ways race relations have improved. In other ways, it seems like the "govt" has made the lynching official in the name of the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on whatever the fuck.
I highly recommend Traven's writing. "Treasure of Sierra Madre" is the most famous. But "Death Ship" is a monument to global capital and local labor, and his short stories are very beautiful. Also,if you like a mystery, he is probably the most mysterious American writer of the 20th century.
Joanna