Provost Earl Lewis advocated improvement through communication during a post-election racial discussion forum held at the Center for Ethics last night.

The forum, sponsored by Emory’s Presidential Commission on Race and Ethnicity and co-sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Programs and Services (OMPS), the Transforming Community Project, Sustained Dialogue and Emory Dining, was part of Lewis’s annual dialogue on race at Emory as well as the Unity Month celebration.

Lewis began the discussion by questioning the status of race and racial discourse in a post-Obama era.

“How do we talk about race in this moment?” he asked. “People are frustrated, exuberant, scared and excited across our nation and in our community. If we don’t recognize the whole range of emotions we will never reach unity.”
Lewis expressed his faith in the academy as an arena for progress to the audience of 60 members of the Emory community.

“Education and contact is the only way to explore the world and its possibilities,” Lewis said. “The University is one of the few places that represents a good cross-section of society where people can gather and work at understanding their differences.”

But Lewis said that he has not yet decided if a post-racial nation is desirable.
“I think that we should reach for a more race-conscious society, where race is not viewed as a bad thing. It is our differences that lead to key discoveries, similar to a lab setting where you don’t want scientists all thinking in the same way,” Lewis said.

Senior Vice Provost for Community and Diversity Ozzie Harris said that he is encouraged that many racial groups now “matter in unprecedented ways.”

“I see that the potential for a multi-racial democracy is more possible than ever before when we put our values to the test,” Harris said.

Lewis stressed that the discussion should not be limited to race.

“If it’s only about Obama’s racial story then we forget the democratic promise in America that he was trying to tap into,” he said.

Lewis explained that the progress of the Obama election is only the beginning.
“Each of us is a teacher and these moments allow us to sharpen teaching skills we can use in our next encounter,” he said.

As Emory’s first black provost, Lewis is the highest-ranking black administrator in University history.

“There is still so much room to address the different communities that exist here and fears that because we disagree we are not a community,” said OMPS Director Donna Wong.

“It is such an asset to be able to bring everyone together in an open forum and talk openly and share our opinions about race,” Wong said.

Lewis said that change can be made by involving oneself in the community and though participating in dialogue.

“Standing at the edge of a community and yelling in is not the way we change things,” Lewis said. “By actually getting in and putting forth the work to communicate with each other, we can make change, and we can make change in our Emory community.”

— Contact Prisca Pointdujour.