Race--it is America's rawest nerve and most enduring dilemma. From
Birth to death, race is with us, defining, dividing, distorting.
--Sig Gissler, Summer 1994
I add the following comment to Gissler's observation: From birth to death, race is one of the most personal of human experiences.
As a black male, I live race. I am acutely aware that my race constitutes a master status. In the eyes of whites and other non-blacks, my skin color, my most visible characteristic, is the ...