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traditional forms of communication. As such, more (female) gendered and ethnic expressions of

communication was supported. The vocal and emotional replies to the cold statement interjected

into an otherwise sensitive space of intimate disclosure can be characterized as a feminist response

to a sexist and a racist belief system that discounts the conditions of older, women of color and

African American women as invalid and unimportant (Essed, 1991). The women’s displays of

verbal and non-verbal disagreement and slapping ‘high-fives’ were valued as acceptable, as the

setting was open to a range of expressions and disclosures, and therefore a holding environment

for statements of racial animus to be explored and passionate outcries expressed in defending the

obvious hurt experienced by the storyteller and sympathetic listeners in the group.

From a feminist perspective, the makeup, design, and process used during the dialogues on

race normalized passionate and dispassionate forms of communication (Hall, 2007). An

environment conducive to displays of emotion through passionate speech and gestures operated to

override traditional and masculine value systems that would have otherwise valued only

communication judged as rational. Civic and deliberative dialogue convened in a way that

privileges rational discussion and communication could have limited the range of dialogue

expressions displayed (Hall, 2007; Young, 2002) and likely participant composition as well. When

diverse groups of people gather in civic and deliberative forums and expose one another to the

rational and passionate points of view over an extended period of time, relationships can be formed

and people can be changed by what they hear (Saunders, 2011). These relationships become the

bridges upon which new understandings develop and divisions reduce.

The participants and facilitators who attended single and multiple sessions of the dialogues

initiated on the theme of Implicit Bias contributed to a process that evolved over the course of the

four CC sessions. As a participant of the second CC where actual dialogues began and as an

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