National Geographic: A Single-Topic Issue on the Subject of Race

One of the hardest things for progressive whites to admit is their own racism. True, it's often unconscious, hidden, cloaked in "colorblindness." But racism it is, and the sooner we all realize and admit to it the better.

National Geographic shows how, with a special April issue dedicated to examining the subject of race from a variety of angles: the social construction of race, the profiling of minority—especially black—motorists, the present-day renaissance of historical black colleges, and the mounting tensions triggered by demographic shifts away from whiteness in the U.S. Editor Susan Goldberg admits up front: “For decades, our coverage was racist. To rise above our past, we must acknowledge it.” And acknowledge it they do.

Required reading, especially for white folk like me who might find it hard to think of themselves as contributors to racism.