As we have been learning, the mere accumulation of facts will not change the racial status quo. Nor will a commitment to systemic change alone build bridges of interpersonal understanding. People need a personal motivation to disrupt the regular patterns of racism in their own lives and in society. Often it is a relationship or friendship that changes a person’s perspective. Reading a book about the Civil Rights movement can be helpful, but hearing the grief in the voice of someone who lived through it will leave a more lasting impression. It is difficult to pursue effective structural
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