Like vigilant sentinels, the young men and women who work as lifeguards of the Island are constantly scanning the horizon every day, looking for signs of danger or distress. At a moment’s notice they may be required to dive into the pounding surf to pull a swimmer to safety.

Although there are no hard numbers, they have likely saved hundreds of lives on the Vineyard over the years. And despite their bravery, many people take them for granted and sometimes treat them with disdain.

When Hugh Weisman organized the first annual Chilmark Road Race some 32 years ago, he wasn’t exactly sure how many people would show up. Mr. Weisman, an avid runner who at the time was offering a clinic at the Chilmark Community Center, estimated beforehand that 200 runners might show up.

Maybe more, maybe less.

But he never imagined that the little race, stretching over five kilometers along Middle Road, would grow to become the phenomenon it is now.

Here’s an expression historian Patricia Sullivan has a problem with: post-racial.

“Post-racial is such an ahistorical term,” she argues one morning this week sitting at the window of a Vineyard Haven cafe.

“People don’t learn in school what this country is made from, and that’s fundamental to begin to have an intelligent discussion about what’s going on.”