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supervisor and others to stop the harassment, his pain and anger was obvious. The White

man spoke up and offered the African American man what he termed advice about how to

deal with the White people at the pool to get some results. As everyone leaned in around

the circle to hear his advice, his first sentence included the words “you people.” His words

created a tension that was visible in facial and posture reactions and certainly was felt,

however, members of the group continued to give him their full attention.

To paraphrase, his advice was: ‘When “you people” get angry it makes White people put

up walls of resistance. So, instead of getting angry, you need to kill them with kindness. People

need to understand this.’ The ‘killing of kindness’ was reiterated brought up later by an attendee.

The comments produced tensions that rippled throughout the air, affecting individuals and

members of the group. Interview respondents expressed a range of reactions to the statements that

reflected for the most part empathy for the feelings of people who had been targets of racism and

family members and others who tried to support them, and ambivalence and anger toward the men

making the dissenting comments.

“I was uncomfortable when the guy kept talking about hybrids (subtle snicker). He kept

talking about that it would be good when finally everyone was interbred because nature

smiles on the hybrid. And he was talking about children of interracial marriage always have

great teeth and they look better than their parents, and I kept thinking, ‘Where are you

going with this? I couldn’t tell if it was going to be positive or negative.’” (P04FW)

“He was just so … it’s just like that face that you see. I don’t know, I feel like I see it all

the time; it’s so, just, nonchalant … just brush it off, like, don’t come at White people like

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