Racial Healing: Confronting the Fear Between Blacks and Whites »

In the America of the 1990s the debate over race relations has become bitter, evasive, often meaningless. Liberals cry racism, conservatives cry family values; individual Blacks and Whites gingerly avoid the subject of race; tensions mount, anger grows, sometimes violence erupts. A consensus seems to have emerged that Blacks and Whites are destined to remain estranged, living uneasily side by side but never together. Yale Law School Professor Harlon L. Dalton disagrees. Frustration and indifference grow because Blacks and Whites never talk to each other about race. Most White people, Dalton argues, even the most well-intentioned, think certain things about Black people they would never say in front of an African-American; and vice versa. As Dalton urges in Racial Healing: Confronting the Fear Between Blacks and Whites, we as individuals must learn to speak openly and honestly about our racial beliefs no matter how uncomfortable or awkward such talk may be. Dalton writes that Blacks and Whites "should simply put everything on the table. Own up to the tension. Acknowledge the risks. When somebody inevitably screws up, rather than beat a hasty retreat, we should seize the opportunity to deepen the dialogue." Dalton is a personal, honest, open writer, willing to share his own inner beliefs and dilemmas, but confident enough to offer concrete examples of what Blacks and Whites can do to bring about racial healing. Dalton is so upfront because he knows that if our fear and mistrust of people of another race remain hidden, the terrible division between Blacks and Whites will grow deeper, with tragic consequences for all Americans.

Publishers Weekly

Yale Law professor Dalton argues for a more open and tolerant dialogue on race. (Oct.)