Race Talk: Patricia J. Williams' Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race

Abstract

In 1997 the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) invited Patricia J. Williams, a Columbia University law professor and a columnist for The Nation, to deliver the Reith Lectures.These lectures comprise Williams' slim book, Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race. The same year that Professor vVilliams delivered her lectures, President Clinton called on the nation to engage in a conversation about race. In making this bold move the President failed to consider that we, the people of the United States, do not know the rules for en gaging in race talk. Talking about race is a difficult endeavor because it involves "negotiating real divisions, ... considering boundaries, ... and . . . pondering our differences before we can ever agree on the terms of our sameness." In the five autobiographical essays that comprise her book, Williams engages in conversation-provoking narratives about black-white racial dynamics in the United States. Although she does not pretend to provide answers about how to achieve racial justice, her essays should provoke a lot of race talk among readers.