Thoughts and Ideas on the Connections/Disconnections Between Race and Language

Take about ten minutes to capture some of your thoughts/ideas/feelings/questions/confusions/etc. on the following topic:

Some people, (I'm thinking mostly about educators, public intellectuals, and artists, but I'm not excluding others) like to think that language is a beneficial tool to help bring together our common experience as humans. Others like to think that language is a weapon that forces people apart. It's not a simple or easy to resolve debate. Of course, as circumstances shift, so do our responses to the tool/weapon question. A shovel can dig a hole, but it can also whack a person on the head, then used to bury the body. 

In terms of discourse about race in America, how it used like a beneficial tool in today's America? How is it used like a weapon? What are your thoughts and ideas. How might today's author's (Baldwin, Achebe, Morrison, and Kinkaid) respond?

Get ready for a vigorous discussion and debate.