[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

It's late; I'll read the Scott Woods article tomorrow, when I can digest a little better.

Very good article, with much to think about. Thanks for sharing it.

I agree with him completely when he says:

A conversation about race in 2015 is not a goal.

It is not a good goal, it is not a reasonable goal, and it is not an equitable goal. In fact, treating the conversation like a goal is offensive to thinking people who have been having these conversations longer than you or your daddy or your grandfather have been alive, let alone the people forced to live as the subjects of your well-meaning conversations.

And I groan when at every catalyst, I hear something along the lines of "maybe this will start the conversation on race we need to have."

And I readily acknowledge that not all conversations are created equal, nor are all conversation entered into honestly. Making conversation the goal is indeed a smokescreen, a way of deflecting and avoiding. The goal is, or should be, a just society for all. In my view, honest dialogue is one of the ways we work towards that goal.

My issue is when the environment at an educational institution stifles that dialogue or dismisses it as unnecessary or inappropriate, or when dissenting views are stifled—not countered, but just shut out entirely.