Can Americans ever forget about skin color, or will race always divide us? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, why some racial categories are starting to break down. Also, how the U.S. Census Bureau is grappling with the politics of race. And, a look at the way children develop racial identities.
Ward Connerly is chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, and a Regent of the University of California. He has controversial views regarding affirmative action and ethnic studies programs. Connerly, who is black, was shouted down when he tried to speak at the University of Wisconsin. He tells Steve Paulson what happened, and why he opposes racial set asides and separatism. Also, psychologist Beverly Tatum tells Steve Paulson how children form their racial identity and why it becomes a big deal in adolescence. Her book is "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"SEGMENT 2:
Sociologist Michael Omi talks with Judith Strasser about the complications that arise when we try to assign racial and ethnic categories in our diverse society. Omi explains the issues the Census Bureau faces in designing forms, and why it matters to various constituencies. Also, Judith Strasser talks with Catherine Young, born in France to a white French mother, but fathered by a Black African. Young has always considered herself white, even though she has brown skin. She tells Judith what it's been like living as a mixed race person in France, in Tahiti and in the United States, and that her children have chosen different racial identities.SEGMENT 3:
Washington Post reporter Juan Williams is the author of a new biography: "Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary." Williams tells Jim Fleming that Marshall was the most influential Black leader of the century: as a lawyer for the NAACP, he successfully argued the Brown Vs. Board of Education case before the Supreme Court and later enjoyed a distinguished career as a Supreme Court Justice.Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 98-11-15-A.
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