When it comes to the history of inhumanity, there is a long list of things many of us were never taught in school. Bacon's Rebellion. Sundown towns. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy. The burning of Black Wall Street. And so much more.

Former NPR host Michele Norris felt an obligation to provide a lesson in largely hidden history after the president likened impeachment proceedings to a lynching and a South Carolina senator doubled down on that characterization. Her message to them and to us? Leave the word alone unless you are ready to fully come to terms with our history. If you haven't already had the opportunity to read her powerful essay, you need to. It's as difficult to read as it undoubtedly was to write, but so very timely and necessary.

We call the news, commentary and calls to action we periodically pass along our Better Angels Newsletter. Some have asked what's with the name.

More than a century and a half ago, with seven states already having seceded from the Union and the nation on the brink of civil war, the most eloquent president America has ever known spoke to the nation. That president, in his first inaugural address, offered timeless words from which we can draw inspiration as we struggle to define the meaning of America and rediscover American unity in our day.

As the 16th president prepared to speak from the east entrance of the Capitol, cavalry patrolled all of the major intersections and Army sharpshooters were stationed on the tops of buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue to guard against Confederate sympathizers lurking in the capital. What would Abraham Lincoln say to this deeply divided nation?

"We are not enemies, but friends."

In that dark and dangerous moment, he reassured his audience that the bonds that united the nation "all over this broad land" would endure in the end "when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

Here we are, more than 150 years later, in another dark and dangerous moment, at each other's throats, with the 45th president predicting a "civil war-like fracture" if he's removed from office. If ever there's been the need to summon the better angels of our nature, now is such a time.

In his second inaugural address, after four years of bloody warfare, Lincoln felt it both necessary and possible to once again appeal to the better angels, reminding his fellow Americans of the affection they should feel for one another and their country. "With malice toward none, with charity for all." He could see beyond the hatred of the moment. Today, can we?

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