Adding without Contradiction: The Challenge of Opening Up Interracial Dialogue

Abstract

This essay begins with the question, “What can educators do to minimize the risks inherent to interracial dialogue?” Though no such meaningful conversation ever will be without risk, this article offers two specific strategies that have helped foster open classroom climates: adding without contradiction and granting freedom for conclusions. Both of these strategies intervene on several dysfunctional habits U.S. participants enact in conversations about race and, thus, help enrich the ameliorative capacity of interracial dialogue.

Key words:

• dialogue
• facilitation
• race
• strategies