An Online Dialogue Race has always been a contentious issue in the United States. The first African slaves were brought to this continent more than a year before the Pilgrims arrived. In all the time since through slavery and the Civil War and the Jim Crow period and Civil Rights era we have continued to struggle with issues of dignity, fairness, and opportunity where African Americans are concerned. Thinking that these questions could have simple answers is itself part of the problem.
Race is a complex issue, full of contradiction, promise, anger, hope, history, and movement.
There are a range of black experiences in this country, our own social attitudes are often invisible to us, and generalizations easily degenerate into stereotypes. But we at KJCG do believe that talking about such issues is important. It's important for everyone who has an interest in the social fabric of the United States, which is to say everyone who lives here and many other people around the world as well. It involves understanding ourselves, our society, and the commonalities we all share. It involves understanding institutions and the important role they play in shaping our culture and the individuals within it.