And Away We Go!

I'm studying race and ethnicity, inequality, etc. in sociology grad school. That means a lot of talk about race. Kinda weird, this sheltered ivory tower where the topic is not just OK but the center of attention (though it's still egg-shell walkin' at times). Cause outside those Ivory Walls, race is considered worse than politics or religion to bring up in "polite" company, unless, of course, you're of the same race and confident that your fellow conversants feel just like you about the "others."

Anyway, I don't know if this will get outside the ivory walls of the blogosphere, and I can't be sure that things will always remain as civil as I hope on such a volatile topic, but if we're gonna make any progress on what many believe is the fundamental challenge of our society, we can't clam up about it.

By the way, I'm white. If there were such an organization as Racists Anonymous, I'd introduce myself thusly: "My name is Steve, and I'm a racist." Not that I want to be, mind you. Not that I'm proud of it. But admitting you have a problem is the first step in recovery. I've made some progress, and got a good ways to go both in learning more about the subject of race, and in dealing with myself. I might qualify as a "recovering racist;" not recovered, but ...