Beer summit looks great, needs more filling

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have a beer with Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., left, and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley, right, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 30, 2009.(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Today, the president and vice president sat down with Henry Louis Gates and Sergeant Crowley over a beer, to talk, presumably about race relations in America. The image of the four men chatting over drinks made for a nice PR-friendly gesture, but will it make any real difference where difference needs to be made? I'm not so sure.

We are constantly told that Americans need to talk about race more often and more openly. Earlier this year, Attorney General Eric Holder called the U.S. a nation of cowards for not doing so, and today's 'beer summit' is no doubt based on the idea that talking solves issues. However, both notions are inaccurate.

First, talking about race is far from rare. Second, talking itself doesn't necessarily solve issues. Take Israel and Palestine as an example. If talking about an issue were the key to solving it, that conflict would have ended a long time ago. When it comes to race, the problem isn't a lack of discussion, debate or dialogue about the subject. The problem is the type of conversation about race that takes place.

For the most part, conversations about race and race relations tend to involve finger-pointing, blame, making one group wrong and another right, a win/lose perspective and either justification or defense of one's position. The range of comment and opinion about the Gates incident this week is clear evidence of that. Some people are convinced that Gates' arrest was a racist incident, while others are adamant that it wasn't. Many believe that Gates was stupid, while many others vehemently assert that the police officer was the stupid one. Some see Gates as a victim. Others argue that Gates was the aggressor.

Frankly, this type of conversation tends not only to be circular, but unproductive. For the most part, this 'talking' is nothing more than each group becoming further entrenched in their own particular, and opposing, position. Not much listening, nor true communication - the type that actually results in changes of mindsets or perspectives - takes place. The result of the way we currently discuss race is noise, but offers little progress.

There is a new type of conversation about race in America that needs to be had. The first part involves setting out the vision for what race relations in America could look like. President Obama - with his emphasis on unity and a vision for America that is shared by all regardless of race - already started this discussion during the campaign season. The next, and most important, step is not to pretend that that vision is now reality - as those who claim that Obama's election is evidence of a "post-racial" or "color blind" America do. The next step is to figure out how to get from where America is now to where there is true fulfillment of that vision.

I can guarantee a goal of excellent race relations, reflected by the closure of racially-orientated disparities, will not be reached by the type of oppositional conversation about race that currently takes place. That is not to say that injustices should be overlooked. However when such incidents arise, the focus should be on what needs to be done to ensure that they do not happen again. The solution is not to retreat into opposing sides of the battlefield, with each side in defensive and accusatory mode.

Real, effective conversation requires both parties to listen and to truly hear each other. It means a desire to share, and a willingness to take that sharing for what it is, as uncomfortable as it may be to hear what is being said. All sides need to take a good, honest look at themselves and to be willing to face up to their own prejudices, their own actions and their own reactions. This goes for black people too. The goal of every discussion about race and race relations should be to move the nation forward. If that doesn't happen, there really is no point in talking at all.

Good race relations can only come from people of all races actually relating to one another well. It's only when the quality of conversation about race - not just its quantity -- shifts that real progress will be made.