White Noise

Dr. Michael Phillips' book White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity and Religion in Dallas, 1841-2001 will do things to you. It's a history book in a lot of ways, but it also makes you take a look around at the half-million-dollar condos springing up all over Dallas and realize who gets to live there and whose labor put them there. It makes it hard to look at our fair city the same way. And now, he's extrapolated his extensive research about racism in Dallas and beyond in order to draw parallels between the wide-spread, organized racism of the early to mid-1900s and the modern growth of anti-immigration sentiment. It's heady stuff, to be sure, but his lecture Less Desirable People: Racism and the Politics of Immigration draws out a perspective on things that our friends in Farmers Branch are probably not considering. In previous speeches Phillips started a dialogue about racism by examining the history of racism, talking about the evolution of race as a concept, discussing race and Dallas politics and tying them all into current events. It's a fascinating point of view for anyone with even a cursory interest in the subject matter. Phillips will present his lecture for free at the First Unitarian Church of Dallas (4015 Normandy Ave.) at 7 p.m. Sunday. Call 214-528-3990 or visit dallasuu.org.
Sun., July 8, 7 p.m.