Hard to Understand...

I listened to Across Five Aprils shortly after reading Nightjohn and so listening to AFA was more difficult than it might have been otherwise. I had heard that Irene Hunt was a great author and this is only book that I have read of hers.  This was a Newbery Honor Book. Nightjohn was not.  Huh.  Strange?  Surprising?  Not really, given the 1954 quality of the Newbery.  
Across Five Aprils was a good book.  It was.  But the thing is...while there are definitely anti-slavery messages in this book, there are also characters who are pro-slavery.  Or people who at the very least, argue that the South should have been allowed to make its own decisions regarding slavery.  Now I know this is realistic.  Of course there were mixed emotions, strong emotions.  I know that...but, but I just don't get it.  I just don't.  I found myself feeling the same way as I listened to Revolution.  In that book there were characters who were trying to find their way, get their heads around racial relations.  I just don't get it...it just makes no sense to me.  How, how, how can separate but not equal make any sense?  How can one be judged by the color of one's skin?  How does that work?  How does what one looks like on the outside make any difference at all when it comes to, well, anything?  How?   I don't know.  I just don't know.