Though I came across these three contributions too late to recommend them to participants in this Sunday morning's conversation (Exploring the Connections/ Christian Social Witness/Brides Room - 10:00 AM), I thought it worthwhile to share their whereabouts. If they stir up some interest, we might find time to discuss them before the Fall class ends.
1. The End of White America (Hua Hsu. The Atlantic, January/February, 2009)
The preface to this longish article reads:
The election of Barack Obama is just the most startling manifestation of a larger trend: the gradual erosion of "whiteness" as the touchstone of what it means to be American. If the end of white America is a cultural and demographic inevitability, what will the new mainstream look like—and how will white Americans fit into it? What will it mean to be white when white is no longer the norm? And will a post-white America be less racially divided—or more so?
I suspect that those of us with teenagers in our life-space will be less shocked by the article than its title and preface might suggest.
2. THEOOZE.TV - conversation in motion
Spencer Burke & Efrem Smith: Can The Church Become Post-Racial? (video)
3. Post-Racialism or Targeted Universalism? john a. powell (The Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University and Executive Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, Ohio State University.
Don't be put off by the umpteen million footnotes, and the academic style of this long article. It is worth ploughing through a time or two. I found it very helpful as an aid in untangling the compressed arguments of both 'conservatives' and 'liberals'—helpful enough to promise myself that I'll re-read it several times in the future.
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