Harvard Law School Professor and civil rights attorney Lani Guinier will participate in an MIT panel titled "Questioning Race: Is BLACK Black?" with audience participation on Thursday, April 8 at 7:30pm in Rm 26-100.
The discussion, sponsored by the Committee on Campus Race Relations (CCRR), will be moderated by Dean Ayida Mthembu. The public is invited. Other panelists include Assistant Professor Melissa Nobles of political science, Senior Associate Dean Isaac M. Colbert, senior Eto Otitigbe and graduate student La Tonya Green. A question and answer session and a reception will follow the discussion.
Among the topics to be discussed are: How has the influx of African and Caribbean immigrants affected relationships with the larger society of people of color and the dominant culture? Is the post-segregation era significantly different in terms of racial relationships? Has integration been helpful or harmful to the building of community? What are the principal challenges in aca-demia? Is there a way to talk about a racially defined community that does not set up parameters of inclusion and exclusion, or is that an inevitable assumption? Is there a way to minimize inclusion/exclusion issues in order to have a "free zone" to talk about oneself?
A version of this article appeared in the March 31, 1999 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 43, Number 24).
