Playing "The Race Game"

I applaud Jack Silverstein's attempt and consideration of how to "solve" racism through the awareness of individual prejudice ("Solving Racism: Part 1," Jan. 29). However, to "solve" racism, we must first become aware of the complexities associated with "race" in American society. The term "race" has been defined historically in a variety of ways, beginning with evolutionist and biological explanations, anthropological classifications, as an indicator of intelligence and IQ, as a product of multivariate social, environmental and political influences and more recently, as a social construct. \nSimply put, we cannot even begin to solve racism without addressing the nefarious ambiguity of "race." Each and every one of us must have first hand knowledge of "race" as a lived experience. Too many of us walk around without really understanding how "race" shapes, molds and constructs our identity. \nTo assist those readers interested in "race" as a lived experience, I suggest an experiment. In the book Learning to be White (Thandeka, 1999), the author describes what he calls, "The Race Game." This game is very simple, but very effective at creating an awareness of "race" in our everyday life. There is one rule: each and every time you discuss a friend, colleague or fellow student, you must interject the racial description before saying his or her name. For example, when describing your professor, you must say, "My (white) professor so-and-so," instead of "My professor so-and-so." While the game is harder than it sounds, your increased racial awareness will reveal the previous "invisibility" of race in everyday interactions and experiences. \nWithout this awareness, racism will remain unsolvable and continue to be what Jack Silverstein has labeled as "prejudice plus power." If, as Silverstein states, "prejudices stem from individuals, whereas power stems from a system," it is useful to have those individuals first understand that they indeed have a "racial label," even if they don't often use it.\nKellie Hogue\nGraduate Student