Marketplace July/August 2022

A prescription for moving beyond polarized positions on race

Beyond Racial Division: A unifying alternative to colorblindness and antiracism

By George Yancey (InterVarsity Press, 2022, 224 pages $18US)

Racial tension often evokes polarized responses.

Some people take a posture of colorblindness, ignoring injustices and denying any need for societal change.

Others are so passionate about the need for change that their antiracism message silences and sidelines potential allies.

African-American academic George Yancey calls out flaws in both of these approaches. In Beyond Racial Division, he

makes a case for a third way. Yancey is a Baylor University professor who studies race/ethnicity and religion. He has written several books on racial issues.

He argues that neither appeals to reason nor the use of power are likely to bring about lasting, mutually acceptable changes.

That leaves moral suasion as the only viable option. That course of action “is about relationship building, not browbeating.”

Yancey outlines the reality of institutional discrimination to discredit a colorblindness outlook. He also provides a persuasive case for why diversity training and antiracism work fails.

Beyond Racial Division outlines academic and faith-based cases for Yancey’s proposed third way: mutual accountability.

The author has no illusions that mutual accountability is a quick fix to ending centuries of injustices. He outlines the need to develop a collaborative conversations lifestyle. People need to be committed to seeking out interracial relationships, compromising where necessary, and overcoming our fears.

Yancey writes hopefully of the possibility of building a movement. He says that providing support for people willing to walk this third path will be needed.

This book is a valuable contribution to addressing intractable problems. It deserves a broad audience.