Page 393 - Mike Ratner CC - WISR Complete Dissertation - v6

a result of the dialogues he came to some knowledge or some new understanding about

how discrimination may impact the differences in ethnicity. So for me that was a significant

moment because when he came in he seemed very set in his ways about his belief system.

It was interesting that he made the slightest bit of change just from being engaged and

listening to the conversation.” (F02FW)

The value of reflection within the context of sustained dialogue is that it creates

opportunities for people to think through the interactions that occurred and keep chipping away at

past tensions, conflicts, and disagreements that keep people divided. In two instances during the

dialogues on race, the act of sustaining the conversation occurred with the help of skilled

facilitators. Attempts to sustain the dialogue to address and come to some resolve or clarity around

tension producing comments helped dialogue group members (participants and facilitators)

acknowledge the cause of disagreement and tension among group members. Doing so introduced

an element of transparency about the tension in an explicit way. The act of standing up to tension

assisted the group in the process of “working through” (Yankelovich, 2001, p. 182) and in further

self-questioning of and reflection on cherished assumptions.

The first instance of sustained dialogue occurred after an older White man had made

multiple references to the superiority of bi-racial children (referred to as hybrids) during the second

dialogue series. Rather than ignoring the tension caused by the comments, the facilitator wisely

asked the man to explain his comments and asked other dialogue attendees to examine how they

felt about his reference to bi-racial children as hybrids, as well as his comments.

A second instance of sustained dialogue occurred when a White male participant made

dismissive comments pertaining to alleged improper treatment by school administrators about

racial harassment of a school-aged child. In this case, the facilitator processed the tensions and

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