The after times revealed the country actively reinforcing rather than abandoning its founding lie

Evidence

The nation had brazenly refused to give up the lie, and in the growing energy of reactionary conservatism, actually seemed to be working harder than ever to secure it. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 447

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gives the working definition of ‘the lie’ as the nation’s founding racial self-deception, which the after times only deepens.
• XREF: Directly feeds the reader’s core task of defining ‘the lie’; connects to the late-Baldwin recanonization thesis.