race

A filmmaker invited white residents of Buffalo, N.Y., to speak candidly about race. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates finds that the results are thought-provoking, often surprising and sometimes disturbing.

One of the hottest playwrights in American theater right now is 40-year-old Young Jean Lee. The Korean-American dramatist talked to NPR's Neda Ulaby about her new play opening this week off Broadway.

Ellison's exploration of race and identity won the National Book Award in 1953 and has been called one of the best novels of the 20th century.

The words used to describe race and ethnicity are ever in flux. A favored term one decade becomes passé the next and not nice soon after that. But, the motivation for change remains constant: Respect.

Rosa Finnegan worked until she was 101. Even now, she says, she's still learning things about herself. "Even as old as I am," she says, "you think you're not prejudiced, but all of a sudden you really find out you are. How stupid I was. 'Cause before you know it, it's all over."

Governments, schools and companies keep track of your race. The statistics are used to track the proportion of blacks and whites who graduate from school. They tell us how many people identify themselves as Native American or Asian. They help us measure health disparities. But there's a problem with all those statistics — and the deeper way we think about race.

Adopted by loving white parents as a baby 42 years ago, Chad Goller-Sojourner says he was an adult before he could love his own reflection. He tells the story of what life was like growing up in a family of a different race than his own.

When the bathroom building went up behind a small Louisiana church in 1959, the doors were painted different colors. Ushers would follow black parishioners outside to make sure they entered the correct door. The once-segregated bathroom recently became part of a discussion of racism, a from-the-pulpit apology, and a demolition.

Artist Orion Martin recently posted several images reimagining X-Men characters as people of color. This touched off a conversation about race in comic book worlds, and how these comic book depictions relate to real life.

Public pressure prompted Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels to hire a black female cast member and two black writers. NPR television critic Eric Deggans says that's just a start, asking: Where are the Asian and Hispanic cast members?