ESPN has a discussion on the perennial issue.

Via Jay Fitzgerald.

Harold M. Clemens discusses fashion role reversals:

... It's weird walking by white boys in unlaced tims, baggy jeans, fat hoodies, and oversized fitteds when I have on dress shoes, soft slacks, and silk dress shirts. I always glance at them curiously as I stroll by and they usually return the favor. It seems like they want to be just like us and we want to be just like them. Maybe it's a good thing- a sign of an impending thorough integration. The only wrench is they dress like us when it's cool, while we dress like them when it counts. ...

"RACE," a play based on the Studs Terkel book of the same name for is playing in Charlestown January 19 through February 3.

The Chicago Sun-Times says:
"Based on the national bestseller, RACE uncovers the true thoughts and emotions of ordinary Americans, both black and white, about this
country's most explosive issue. We see bus drivers, college students,civil rights workers, Klansmen, doctors, interracial couples and many
more struggling with their feelings on affirmative action, drugs,prejudice, and dashed hopes, revealing attitudes that few are willing

One of little Tae's favorite board books is Good Night Boston. Her mother begins to wonder about the portrayal of kids in it:

... [T]he asian kids are raising their hands. so is the kid with glasses. and so is the kid in the wheel chair. but that's IT. the other kids of color aren't raising their hands. is this the beginning of the model minority stereotype? in a board book?

and, um, what about the eyes? ...

Harold isn't sure:

... No matter what the idealists and romantics say, love is not blind, nor is it ethereal. Love is based on one's ideals, fantasies, insecurities, and other elements of personality. Surely racist stratification of women influences these entities from an early age, e.g. the minute one’s mom reads him Snow White, Rappunzel, or Cinderella, or he watches cartoons. Thus, one can sincerely love someone from another race, no doubt, but the initial attraction and subsequent adoration are probably informed by subconscious notions of whiteness' grandeur. Even if this is not the case, the question is still worth asking. Until we achieve genuine equality, which is likely a couple more centuries away, we should always wonder whether a black man's love and relationship with a non-black woman is completely untainted by his own socialization. ...

The Girl, Jewish and white, gets to thinking about the topic when she overhears two women - one on the ground, one on a third-floor balcony - talking about the weekend Caribbean carnival in Franklin Park:

... The balcony woman explained that she had brought a couple of friends and the friends "had fun even though they're white." I was pulling grocery bags out of the car at that point, and I think I sensed a notable moment of uncomfortable silence, as both women must have acknowledged my presence. They went on with their conversation, and I went on with my task. ...

Derek takes a look at that Harvard study on racism in greater Boston and discusses his own experiences as a black man born and raised in Boston, says he is more worried about anti-gay violence than racism, but concludes there is still enough racism out there to warrant some soul-searching by whites:

... It's easy enough for us to rail against institutional racism, but what about attacking the pervasive nature of homegrown neighborhood racism? When do conscious members of the white community stand up and take action where they live? One tidbit that gets overlooked in the study is that it sampled people from around the region, not just in Boston. The suburbs have as much soul searching to do as any area of the city.

Peter, though, disputes the Harvard study, saying that minorities might be getting bad service not because they're minorities but because:

Service is terrible everywhere. Service personnel have no respect for anyone. Get used to it!