Live, Learn, Listen -- The State of Black and White America

"I have a dream" still rings in the ears of those who believe in an integrated society. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka revealed the concept of separate, but equal schools as a farce and made it legally unacceptable. In most places, however, the reality is we still have separate schools, only under a different guise, and they are not equal.

We have separate churches and separate neighborhoods -- separate lives. Black and white America live in separate realities, a fact that makes genuine understanding a true challenge on either side.

With that in mind, regardless of your race, I would like to direct your attention to The State of Black America hosted by Tavis Smiley which aired this week on C-SPAN. Participants include: Douglas Wilder, former Governor of Virginia; Cathy Hughes, Radio One Founder and President; The Reverend Jesse Jackson; The Reverend Al Sharpton; Sonia Sanchez, poet; and others.

In law school, I was privileged to take a course called Race, Racism and the Law, taught by Professor Anita Hill. Perhaps the most important lesson I learned was that people's positions are not always what you anticipate. If you read about something, you can learn to think about it, but if you live something, you truly learn it. If you can't live it, you can at least listen to someone who has lived it.

To view The State of Black America hosted by Tavis Smiley as aired on C-SPAN, just click here or click here to go to the C-SPAN.org page featuring their recent video archives, scroll down and click on the program title.