Truth and Reconcilliation

Eric Holder, the Attorney General, raised a few eyebrows when he told the staff of the Department of Justice that the United States had not fully faced our racial problems. He did so in the context of Black History Month and it is obviously true that we have not dealt with the legacy of slavery and prejudice against African-Americans. I would guess that the history is equally or more disturbing with respect to Native-Americans and Native-Hawaiians, and not much better with respect to Chinese-Americans and Japanese-Americans. We also have a history of prejudice based on religion, ethnicity among European ethnic groups, gender and sexual orientation. Maybe we need as a nation to address prejudice in all its forms.

This blog focuses on knowledge for development and, if you think about it, prejudice is antithetical to knowledge. Prejudice keeps one from looking at reality and learning, substituting preformed opinions. It is hard to see how we can move towards a knowledge economy unless we move toward a knowledge society, and facing and removing prejudice is a waystation on that route.