Is racial dialogue possible?

American Reformer, co-authored with Neil Shenvi

Professor George Yancey is an evangelical sociologist at Baylor whose research interests include “racial diversity, racial identity, academic bias, progressive Christians and anti-Christian hostility” (Baylor University, Deptartment of Sociology). This list doesn’t fit neatly into either conservative or progressive buckets and neither does Yancey’s latest book, Beyond Racial Division: A Unifying Alternative to Colorblindness and Antiracism. In it, he challenges the two most prevalent models for understanding race in our culture, “colorblindness” and “antiracism.” Both, he argues, are inadequate. He proposes an alternative “mutual accountability” model which prioritizes and makes central “collaborative conversations” (p.14) as the pathway to racial harmony. 

While both of us are fervent supporters of Yancey and believe his overall approach is excellent, Beyond Racial Division is flawed in certain respects. Its shortcomings are found not primarily in what it says, but in what it fails to say. In what follows, we’ll begin by briefly summarizing some of its emphases and then explore some of its many positives before turning to our concerns and offering a final comment.