Is anyone else skeptical about 'talking race'?
I just finished the Nebeker essay. At one point she promotes the need for more "constructive dialogue" concerning race and racism (pgs. 34-35). I couldn't agree more with her, but, to be quite honest, my experience with race talks is of the "combative as drunken brawlers on a Saturday night" type -- the kind that, according to Nebeker, Guinier, and Cose, dooms interracial communication. Not only have I been egged on by some drunken brawler instigating an argument; I've been one. And, rarely do I leave the talk feeling that I've experienced a "dialogue for change."
Experience tells me that talking race is REALLY touchy. But, still, I'm hopeful. Interested. Ready for the food for thought that Katie mentioned in her post. This seminar, I know, will be very different from the multicultural affairs fora in my undergraduate experience, where sparks flew. Then again, Nebeker noticed "insensitive, uninformed, [and] malicious" comments in her graduate courses...
I hope no one feels like me.
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I definitely share in some of your concerns Steve. After reading the Nebeker article, and taking some time to digest her ideas, I was left wondering how exactly we are supposed to initiate such a touchy and convoluted conversation. I still have no idea what the answer is, but I am hopeful, like you Steve, that this semester will at least give us some ideas as to how we can talk about race openly, think about it critically, and learn something from eachother.
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