Coffee & Conversation: Race: Not As Enlightened As the New Claims

Last week we went there. Dared to discuss religion. It was emotional but we kept it – the conversation and the substance – cool.  Much respect, but we didn’t go deep enough.  What about race?

On the street we claim this generation is different.  That twenty-somethings are more racially open-minded – young folks have friendships across race and are culturally hip-hoppy (Black-influenced). Unlike mine, this generation has transcended. You even elected America’s Black, culturally ambivalent President that the whole world digs.  Does this mean race no longer matters in America?

This generation asserts it’s not monolithic and generally doesn’t call out racism that might be pervasive in American institutions – education, politics, who goes to prison, poverty.  Inequality still shakes out in Black and White and we haven’t had any real national conversations about race in years. (Hard to do so when a Black dude owns the throne.) Can leadership advance this country – on issues of race and otherwise – when the view of race in America means having your head deep in a sand hole?

This Friday let’s discuss whether it still has to be about race.  From 3-5 p.m. I’ll be in the Howard Thurman Center with plenty of coffee and cookies. You bring it – the conversation.

Peace