Race has the power to silence us.  Whatever the reason- boredom, distraction, guilt, shame, ignorance, apathy or exhaustion- we stop talking about race.  We change with the news cycle and move on to the next story.  Because the conversation is so sad, so taxing, so difficult.  It hurts too much.  It’s scary.  It will take too long.  It won’t change anything.

We are full of excuses but we are tired of living with the problems of race.  So, keep talking.  Keep talking until you find the right words and become the right person to talk about race with.

Resources

“Being White in Philly” discusses the challenges socially colored white people have when they talk about race.

The discussion continues here at HuffPost Live.

The Washington Post ran a story after news broke regarding a noose hung outside a building at Duke that claims “We can talk about race without fighting or getting defensive, if we’re willing to learn how.”