"The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line," wrote W.E.B. Du Bois in The Souls of Black Folk in 1903. Reality and events clearly validate the continuing accuracy of that observation. Racial conflict range from the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles to black-Jewish tensions in New York. Race is a feature of institutions and structures that insures that one group of people have less access to resources such as jobs, education, housing and health care and less access to intangibles such as self-confidence and self-esteem. Racial hierarchy promotes paranoia and division. The problem of the color line must be transcended if we are to realize the promise of genuine equality.

Cornel West
Cornel West, University Professor of Religion at Princeton, has been called "the preeminent African American intellectual of his generation." With his preacher-like cadences and passionate delivery, he is much in demand as a speaker. A prolific author, his book "Race Matters" was a bestseller. His latest book is "Democracy Matters."