Race Relations

I was browsing my local library and happened to spot this book on the new arrival section. Normally I would have written it off as more of the unbalanced tripe that passes for educational material these days but I noticed the opposing viewpoints series label and decided to give it a try. The book itself is a collection of essays, interviews and articles by leading proponents and opponents of various opinions. In this volume the GENERAL TOPICS included : WHAT IS THE STATE OF RACE RELATIONS. IS RACISM A SERIOUS PROBLEM and others. Sub catagoires involved topics as diverse as Anti-semitism in the black community, Support of bilingual education, and Apologizing for Slavery. Each topic was argued on both sides and the line up was a strong one. Clarence Page, Charles Krauthammer, Naomi Wolf and the Advisory board to the President's Initiative on Race (Clintons). I was pleased to see that prominant black conservatives Deroy Murdock, Walter Williams, and Thomas Sowell were also included. (None are specifically identified as black by the editor but both Williams and Murdock self identify in their respective articles. ) This developemnt alone is a giant step forward. At the end of the book is a list of 15 orginizations to contact for more info and here is the only place were the balance is a bit off. The list includes of course the NAACP, ACLU, Amnesty International and the National Urban League, It ALSO includes the Heritage Foundation, The Cato institute and the Center for the Study of Popular Culture. The list itself is pretty balanced , however in the write ups on each group Heritage & CSPC are identified as "Conservative" and Cato as "Libertarian", however none of the "Liberal" groups are identified as such. It is a small point, worth mentioning but not enough to overcome all of the benefits of this book. When both sides of an arguement are presented then knowledge is truly born. This book achieves this and if it is used as a school text then it will be a small step in the right direction. I look forward to examining the other books in the series. Well done Mary E. Williams!