Where Should Conversation on Race Start?
By ADAM GELLER Associated Press March 30, 2008 So, we’re going to get honest about race this time? Let’s get started then. If only it were that simple. We’ve had time to digest Sen. Barack Obama’s call for a new, and more frank, examination of the “complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked our way through.” Plenty of people, including some from opposite sides of the ideological fence, heard something in that speech that spoke to their hearts. But a period of reflection makes clear that, when the power of rhetoric fades, we’re conflicted not just about race, but even how to talk about it. Candor can help, some say; others worry fresh honesty will inflame old tensions. And who is qualified to join in this conversation? It depends whom you ask. Is this only a black-white thing, or is that too limited? Can different generations, with different experiences, hear each other on this issue? To some it sounds like a conversation – or an argument – they’ve been having o
