Panel discussion on race, racism planned

Pundits and media personalities have been making a lot of noise about racial comments on candidate Obama made by Harry Reid, Senate majority leader. One short paragraph from the recently released book “Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime” spilled fresh blood in the water for the Washington chatterati. Gossipy and embarrassing, what hasn’t been part of the conversation is a truthful and candid discussion on race and racism.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for the Humanities is sponsoring a public panel discussion featuring faculty from UW–Madison. The discussion, “Taking Stock of Race and Racism: A Year After Obama’s Inauguration,” will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 20, at the Madison Public Library Central Branch, 201 W. Mifflin St.

The panelists are:

• Tracy Curtis, Afro-American studies, 608-263-2471, tcurtis2@wisc.edu
• Will Jones, history, 608-263-1784, wjones3@wisc.edu
• Kathy Cramer Walsh, political science, 608-265-3679, kwalsh2@wisc.edu
• Her Vang, Asian American studies, 608-263-2976, hervang@wisc.edu

The panel will be moderated by Joy Cardin of Wisconsin Public Radio.