"Peeling off my white denial"

I almost came to tears in class today. We watched a video on how "race" began in America and the floodgates of emotions opened up. For starters, remember when we were little and learned all about Thomas Jefferson and how great he was and yada yada yada. Well I'm sure all that stuff was true and great but I am angry that a significant piece of information was omitted. A significant piece of American history. Thomas Jefferson also wrote a book called Notes on the State of Virginia where he described, well, Virginia. It was in this book that he wrote that he thought that the blacks must be inferior in mind and body. This started a huge, ugly, ripple effect. I won't go into detail about what happened then. Also, this was the man who signed the declaration of independence stating "All men are created equal"...he did this while he owned over 200 slaves!! Hypocritical much! They all justified this however by saying that because blacks must be inferior then they didn't count as the "men" in "All men are created equal." WTF!!? I understand that this is past and nothing can be done now but I just feel that I should have been given the whole picture. I am starting to see what people mean when they say that schools teach from the dominant point of view. Well, that is just my rant on Thomas Jefferson and what is taught in schools. I won't go in to Native Americans or the Mexicans that had their land completely and outright taken away!
My problem is now, what do I teach my son? I want to give him the whole picture of American history and his history but a big part of that picture is just so awful and embarrassing. And how do I explain moving forward? I am only just beginning to see just how ingrained race really is in our society. In the words of my professor, I'm "peeling off my white denial." I'm overwhelmed, sad, embarrassed, angry, perplexed, conflicted, curious and inspired. So among my big thoughts to ponder for the day are these:
What would America have become without European colonization?
Would the same types of things happened, just by a different group of peoples?
Would "America" be here at all?
Would "race" exist?
Is another world possible?

Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?

Want to watch the video that inspired this post? Click here to go to the website. Its a PBS 3-Part Series called Race-The Power of an Illusion. We watched Episode 2 today in class.