Mr. Biden’s claim in 2012 that Mitt Romney wanted to put black voters “back in chains” is now treated as a lovable Joe gaffe. And this week weren’t Chicagoans united in guffaws over Cook County prosector Kim Foxx’s response to a damning public report on her handling of the Jussie Smollett case? She sent out her attorney to decry “a blatant attempt to take down a black, progressive, female prosecutor who does not fit within the white power structure.”

Uh huh.

Forgiveness is not a universally healthy practice if it encourages the offending behavior. Voters and colleagues might have wondered when and against whom wouldn’t Ms. Harris play the race card if she would against Barack Obama’s loyal wingman on national TV. But if it was just a cute trick to gain attention, nothing more, no harm done, we may be at an inflection point in racial politics, and not in the way people are thinking, the institutionalization of white guilt.

Don’t like the way the police conduct business in your town? Don’t like the priorities of the mayor and city council? Think certain neighborhoods get the short end of the stick in public services such as schools? Black voters have the power in much of America and have lately used it not to satisfy an appetite for tokenism.