Why we'll never have an "honest" dialogue on race

If Americans don’t talk enough about race, it’s because they’ve learned from long experience that such efforts are often futile. If no action is ever enough, how could words help? At the end of almost any dialogue, Americans know the refrain will remain: We still have a long way to go.…

Unfortunately, the bigger lesson is this: These incidents – Imus, the cartoon, Holder’s speech – are our national conversation on race. And they do not “foster a period of dialogue among the races,” as Holder proposes. They foster anger, suspicion, and division. They consist of accusations, countercharges, and hard feelings, and they are often difficult to understand. Get involved, and chances are you’ll get burned.