viewpoint
BY JOHNNY LAKE
Talking About Race
Productive conversations in a post-racial society
P
resent narratives about race and culture defi ne
what we can say, what we see and what we
believe we can do in transforming ourselves,
our communities and society. Racial problems seem
impossible to resolve. When they come up, we throw
up our hands in dismay. What can we do about race?
If we engage race in the same way that we have done
historically we will continue to get the same results.
In order to get different results we must change the
narrative associated with the ideas, concepts and
beliefs on race. The concepts of racial identity and
sense-making about race are embedded in the stories
told in our daily lives. Current racial narratives both
accentuate old dilemmas related to race and create
new paradoxes in what we may consider a post-racial
society. Conversations about race most often appear
in the form of dilemmas and disturbing problems. We
repeat old stories about racial groups. “You know how
white people are? You know how black people are?”
Important questions include:
• How can we relinquish our historical grasp of race
and, at the same time, embrace a new perspective on
racial equality and justice?
• How can we change or transform the current racial
dialogues into ones that avoid the common traps, and
support individuals, communities and organizations
going in a positive, proactive and preferred direction
when it comes to race and racial issues?
• How can the dominant culture and narrative be
shifted to be more empowering and inclusive toward all
citizens’ participation and, at the same time, maintain
the exclusionary nature of privilege associated with
race and racial categories?
• Can society reject concepts of
whiteness and white privilege and
still continue to enforce cultural
representations of whiteness and
white privilege on white and non-
white performers?
• Can we maintain a racial society
that embraces racial equity and a high level
of performance, accountability and fairness?
When racial identity is viewed as reifi ed and fi xed, it
is often due to a limited knowledge and understanding
of race. This viewpoint is made necessary by historical,
political and social practices related to the false
conception of biological race. Centering a false defi nition
of race in the racial logic of society produces dilemmas
and paradoxes necessary to maintain the false construct
of race. This resulted in different representations of
race having little to do with biological race. Thus, we see
racial difference embedded in the structures of society,
yet strained to be viewed as non-racial. The limited
language and lack of critical conversations about
race and racial representations result in a stark and
impoverished dialogue about race and racial politics
and categories. In this context, the use of dialogue and
narrative language has a highly innovative potential.
S
o what can we do to help facilitate more
effective and productive conversations about
race and racial representations? How can we
move forward in a conversation about a post-racial
society? Some answers include:
• Closely listening to ourselves and each other in
racial dialogues
• Critically examining the subtle and not-so-
subtle articulations of race and culture
• Re-examining the multiple daily
narratives on race
• Re-thinking and challenging everyday
conclusions based in racial identity
• Broadcasting new and different preferred
stories rather than old narratives
• Building strong relationships across racial
and cultural boundaries
If we can engage in honest and
authentic conversations about race and racial
representations we can develop powerful approaches
and solutions that will help in bridging the intersection
between professional conditions and personal values
and actions. By doing so it is possible to co-create
new, rich narratives that build bridges and scaffolds
from the negative, problem-oriented stories commonly
reported about race and culture to the more positive,
necessary and preferred stories. Through sharing our
stories about race and culture we can enrich, explore
and accurately interpret the modern racial landscape
and we can develop a more authentic perspective and
language about race and identity that can empower us
to face the dichotomies, complexity and dilemmas as
participants in a post-racial society. Racial and cultural
diversity and honest racial and cultural dialogue will be
important components in creating a climate for change.
Encouraging and supporting a critical dialogue about
race and culture, as well as a developing a more fl exible,
creative and diverse approach to race and racial identity
is essential if this society is to actually move toward and
function as a post-racial society.
Johnny Lake has lived, worked, studied, taught, administered schools,
raised several children and survived intact in the Willamette Valley as
an African-American scholar for more than 25 years.
Friday, July 20, Island Park
AMY
CLAWSON
A
Family
Fair
Sammy Steele
Band
Ju
uly 21, Island Park
Saturday, July 21
GATES OPEN AT 4:30 PM
ISLAND P
PARK, 200 W. B ST.
Sum
mmerFair wristbands
avai lable at Northwest
Com
mmunity Credit Union
branc ches, Willamalane
facilit ies or at the gate.
G REEN
N EVENT: Flash your
wristba and and ride LTD to the
festival for free! Bike valet.
Sunday, July 22
Island Park
PetFair
Saturday, July 21
Lively Park
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JULY 12, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM