Abstract
Turn on the news, open Facebook, or pull up a Twitter feed and a topic as related to relations between Black and White Americans is bound to appear. Given the current political climate which has provided a stage for open dialogue, this text could not have appeared at a better time to help provide framework for productive dialogue. Building upon the work by Ronald L. Jackson (2002) “Cultural Contracts Theory: Toward an Understanding of Identity Negotiation” and his work with Rex L. Crawley (2003) “White Student Confessions About a Black Male Professor: A Cultural Contracts Theory Approach to Intimate Conversations About Race and Worldview,” the text uses a qualitative approach constructed upon interviews to examine the concept of perception and the role it plays in communication between Black and White individuals.
Talking Black and White: An Intercultural Exploration of Twenty-First-Century Racism, Prejudice, and Perception written by Gina Castle Bell explores a very timely and relevant social justice issue–race relations. Specifically, she examines intercultural communication between Black and White people. The text is a successful probe including critical intercultural communication, critical race theory, identity negotiation, and communication theory. In addition, Bell offers a unique perspective from that as a White ally. The intended purpose of the text is to address social issues of our time, namely, ineffective race relations and intercultural communication in the United States. In its easy to read, informal approach, Talking Black and White does achieve its intended purpose through exploration of the dynamics between Black and White races by pulling apart how communication has taken place for centuries regarding racism, prejudice, and misperceptions. The purpose of the book is also apparent as she concludes the text with recommendations, framed as her dream, on ways to unite races through better communication to move forward in solving social issues.
Talking Black and White opens in Chapter 1 with the author’s personal, extended subjectivity statement. She positions herself as a middle class, White woman who acknowledges her White privilege and openly shares her anxiety as related to sharing her research with others. However, she goes on to explain how her credentials and personal story have provided her the experiences necessary for serving as an ally. Bell has conducted extensive research on the topic of intercultural communication. Her additional contributions include “Black and White Interracial Couples: Managing Relational Disapproval Through Facework” (2011), “‘I Still Have a Dream . . .’: Exploring Black and White Communication Challenges in 21st Century America” (2012), and “Exploring Black and White Accounts of 21st-Century Racial Profiling: Riding and Driving While Black” (2014). She shares anecdotes as both a partner to a Black man and a mother of a biracial child that help provide context for the reader in recognizing her as an ally and an expert in talking Black and White.
In utilizing her research expertise, Chapter 2 sheds light on the disconnect in communication, more specifically language and vocabulary, of people in the United States, which prevents having meaningful conversations about race, racism, prejudice, discrimination, power, and privilege. Bell believes that “the current language we use to discuss race relations in the U.S. is problematic” (p. 17), and the underlying problem is that most people do not know the definitions or differences between basic key terms, thus use certain words inappropriately. Bell explains that the misunderstanding in communication contributes to intercultural (mis)communication. She encourages people to agree upon the same definitions and uses of terms as an effort to discuss past and future race-related issues. Bell also conceptualizes the idea of who can be deemed as racist and how that accusation is often times misused. She gives insight into how to properly determine racist beings. In addition, Bell touches on the frustration that many White people have when accused of being discriminatory or racist. The defense many times ends with comments like “my family didn’t own slaves, I am not racist.” In this chapter, Bell does a good job with interpretation of communication misunderstanding.
Chapter 3 presents the methods and methodology Bell used in her study. She succinctly lays out her rationale for and interpretation of the inductive, qualitative process she used when analyzing interracial communication. Specifically, Bell speaks to the philosophy surrounding the goal of qualitative research as a means of interpreting the “why” and “how” of the function of communication in “an ongoing context” (Hymes, 1972; Maxwell, 2005). She describes how her sample was gathered. Bell explained that she used a snowball sampling procedure and included individuals who self-identified as Black/African American or White/Caucasian communicators. They ranged in age from 18 to 75 years and came from various regions of the United States. Through the use of an online platform, she was able to conduct interviews with participants all over the country.
In Chapter 4, in using her gathered research, Bell examines cocultural communication between Black (nondominant group) and White (dominant group) communicators, as outlined in cocultural theory. This theory talks about power and control over certain groups of people. As described in the text, “power refers to having physical, psychological, or structural influence over another person or cultural group” (p. 45). As Bell explains cultural contracts theory as a framework for intercultural communication, she offers descriptions of each contract and effective usage. Ready-to-sign, Quasi Completed, and Co-Created Cultural Contracts, as outlined by Jackson and Crawley’s framework of communication interactions, help move people beyond identity negotiation and ascription. She also suggests that understanding the nuances of these contracts gives direction on navigating race-related conversations and actions. Bell offers this framework as a method of strategically learning how, when, and with whom to communicate.
As the text shifts in Chapter 5 to a tapestry of interview narratives, current events and her personal experiences to raise awareness regarding themes such as White fear, perception and misperception, and the powerful role of language. Misperception is noted as the root of police violence against Black individuals. As such, Bell denoted multiple national examples including Eric Gardner and Freddie Gray. She explained how officers potentially make assumptions based on prejudice, which she contrasts with accounts of direct threats from White individuals toward the police. She also speaks expertly to the role of historic, systemic racism in perceptions of Black community members by members of the White community as well as the role media plays in perpetuating racial stereotypes. The chapter concludes by offering recommendations that could support police training so lives could be saved rather than lost, with a provocative call for community to police their own neighborhoods.
Chapter 6 examines prejudice, the perils of this generation, and the value of Black lives. Bell shares horrific real-life stories of racial hatred that has happened from slavery and continues to happen today in the United States by delineating more accounts of police brutality toward Black men. Examples of this brutality are hate crimes such as the cases of James Craig Anderson, Jordan Davis, and Trayvon Martin. She adds commentary from Black and White community folks on their perspectives of how prejudice is passed down generationally, which perpetuates the racial climate in this country. By including this chapter, Bell may have hoped to accomplish a connection to past and present generations with stories of how racial abuse is highly prevalent and revealing how generations contemplate actions of their physical, social, and emotional realities.
Chapter 7 delves more deeply into perspectives from the White community as Bell explores areas in which members of this community express frustration with members of the Black community. There were five specific areas addressed in the chapter. First, Bell addresses the perception among participants that Black people assume White people are racist, for whom she denotes the historical basis for distrust and the need for White allies to strive to gain trust through striving for social justice and reform. Next, the concept that Black people do not need reparations was discussed, for which Bell refers to the history of our nation. Third, White interviewees expressed they felt Black people “played the race card.” Bell’s response to this was very passionate as she vehemently denied this accusation. Finally, the notion that affirmative action is unfair to White people was addressed. Bell revealed that communication, in this case vocabulary, could potentially serve as the root of this feeling as a common definition of the term affirmative action is not recognized. By bringing to light these frustrations, Bell can begin to dispel the myths she feels surround them. Although she provides a one-sided perspective, it aligns with her experience and research.
Chapter 8, the final chapter, summarizes the text and its points related to ineffective communication in the United States. Bell then shares her dream of healing to take place in the United States through the recommendations that she provides of how Black and White people can move forward together. The key suggestions for more enhanced intercultural communication are the following: “a) becoming culturally competent communicators, b) developing intercultural sensitivity, c) having the talk about race and racism, d) ditching the colorblind ideology, e) embracing agape love and considering how we can engage in resistance in the twenty-first century” (p. 117). Bell stresses that her reason for writing the book is to carry hope that real change can take place if people are able to understand and appreciate the ways that others are different and bring varying perspectives.
Although there are many books written on intercultural communications, none that address communication around exploring and solving race-related social issues in the United States. Talking Black and White is a strong research study, which, along with context and recommendations provided by the author, serves as a means of addressing race relations between Black and White community members in a multitude of fields and settings. First, it serves as an excellent springboard for providing common understanding of key terms. In addition, the historical context provided strategically builds a bridge toward understanding perspective, particularly to White people who have not taken time to analyze how these historical events continue to impact life for Black people today. Finally, Bell should be applauded for providing concrete recommendations for improving relations between police, and the Black community, in particular, serves to provide catalyst for change.
One way in which the discussion involving the Black community and the police force could possibly have been enhanced is by adding perspective directly provided by members of the police community. Including transcripts or quotes from the noted investigations could have aided in ensuring voice was given to the police. In addition, although the role of media was noted in several sections of the text, more analysis would have strengthened the text. Furthermore, Bell’s arguments could have been strengthened by including discussion regarding who controls the media, which impacts how racism continues to pass from one generation to the next. By acknowledging that media is run and implemented primarily by those who possess White privilege, it highlights how perceptions will not change unless individuals from the nondominant culture have equal access to developing and presenting a more balanced perspective.
Bell’s text offers a perspective on intercultural communication that is a bit different from other literature on the same topic. She uses the lens of addressing race-related social issues of our time. Bell sets out to better understand why communication between Black and White people in the United States has never reached a point of the extinction of racism, prejudice, misperceptions, and power over nondominant groups. She calls on her own research and other scholar’s work to present theories, frameworks, and real-life race-related stories that garner interest and provide strategies to improve communication about race and social issues, along with communication between races. From an education lens, as Bell references points of critical race theory, she delivers an approach that can be used and sharpened in classrooms as she references the need for communication between races in all industries. Her book’s contribution to education as is defined by concluding with her dream and recommendations for clear, productive communication between Black and White people to create an equitable society.
Urban education scholars and teachers would benefit from Bell’s work as it will provide hope that with researched methods, applied frameworks, and practice of proper intercultural communication, individuals of different races can live, work, and function alongside each other without the strain of discrimination and power controls. Her work aligns with Tucker-Raymond and Rosario (2017) in that exploration on how students communicate their identities in classrooms and their communities, and how the importance of both creates cultural ways of being through historical communication which builds identity. I highly recommend this book as a very useful resource for educators, researchers, and others who are interested in examining intercultural communication.