(LE) Another Thought about Racism

It's quite true that etymology is not destiny, but the era in which we coin a word for something is one measure of the point at which it becomes possible to focus on it, and address it politically. Unlike an armchair moralist, a political actor like Lincoln must be centrally concerned with the issues he can see a way to affect in his own circumstances. If he speaks of slavery (but not racism) as a great evil, while at the same time personally steering clear of most of the standard antipathy toward blacks in his violently racist society, are we really interpreting charitably to assume he would not have been anti-racist had he lived today?