LANI GUINIER SAYS TALKING CRITICAL FOR UNDERSTANDING

She says improving race relations most important skill for the 21st century.

One is frequently warned not to bring up three subjects in casual conversation: politics, religion and sex. Civil-rights activist Lani Guinier argues that the taboo topic of the '90s is race relations.

Most people will remember that President Clinton had nominated Guinier to be assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Justice Department. He withdrew the nomination after much criticism of Guinier as a "quota queen."

Reflecting on that time, she remarked, "I feel that much of what happened to me was a function of my ideas and the fact that I was willing, as a black woman, to talk openly about race when so many other Americans are in a state of denial about issues of race and racism.

"One of the things I would have liked to do if I had been working for the Clinton administration is to get the country engaged in a national conversation about race," she continued.

"I would like to show that we can talk through our differences and that we don't have to run from our differences."

Early awareness

Guinier has spent most of her life observing and trying to improve race relations. She was 13 in 1963, when the civil rights movement was a subject of enormous public and personal interest.

"My mother went to the March on Washington," she recalled in a recent telephone interview with Children's Express. She also remembers the boycott of Woolworth's stores because they wouldn't serve blacks in the South.

"I remember that particular issue as affecting me personally."

Since that day more than 30 years ago, Guinier has been active in civil rights issues. She is a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and recently wrote the book The Tyranny of the Majority.

"One of the main focuses of my life's work is to try to get people to bridge (their) differences in a way that recognizes (and) respects the differences but doesn't try to reinforce those differences or reimpose those differences arbitrarily."

Guinier feels that, although we have come far in the last 30 years, we still have not done as much as we could to deal with our diversity. She cites a recent study conducted in Boston to illustrate her point.

The researchers surveyed parents representing all ethnic and racial groups, she said. The parents were asked what three things they wanted most in the world for their children.

The parents had the same three wishes. They all wanted their kids to learn how to swim and to have a better life than themselves by going to college or getting a better job. The third wish was that their children would learn to get along with people who are different than they are.

"They saw that as an important skill that their children would need in order to be productive citizens in the 21st century," she explained.

Guinier believes that we're not helping those parents or children if we run from discussing race and our differences. She says people need to talk to each other to understand each other's backgrounds.

"Once people know where you are coming from, a lot of what you then say makes much more sense, and they are willing then to deal with you as a person who is very complex."

Understanding will lead to respect, she believes, and respect will lead to unity.

"Once people feel respected, they are much more willing to compromise or to work together with other people to create a new consensus," she said.

Center on race relations

Guinier is trying to start a center dedicated to promoting a national discussion on race. She and her husband were discussing possible names for a center when their 7-year-old son overheard her say she wanted something "catchy."

"He piped up and said, `I know what you should call it: . . . baseball.' He then explained that when you are talking about catching, that in baseball you have to able to field a catch. . . .

"An Afro-American philosopher said there were three things that America will be known for 1,000 years from now, and the three things are our democratic Constitution, jazz and baseball. So there is a connection there somehow."

Guinier is encouraged by the young social activists who are working to unify today's diverse society.

"We're waiting for you to grow up so that we can pass the baton," she said. "Believe in yourself and the things you stand for because you are standing on the shoulders of giants who have sacrificed enormously for you to be where you are. . . .

"Be strong, and speak clearly so we can hear you and loudly so we know what you're saying and we can learn from you. And welcome - we are waiting for you."

EDITED BY: Elizabeth Simpson, 13; Kelly Hartley, 16.