THE AUTHORS OF OUR cover article, "Can We Talk?," Andrea Ayvazian and Beverly Daniel Tatum, have worked together as anti-racism trainers and consultants since 1988, when an anti-racism agency matched them up as a team to work with a college in eastern Massachusetts. Their current presentation, "Women, Race, and Racism: Dialogue in Black and White," grew out of a question that Beverly was asked in a seminar she was giving on black women and their relationships with one another in the context of living in white communities. "Is it possible for white women and black women to ever really be friends?" a participant asked. "The answer is yes," Beverly says, "if white women will acknowledge their privilege and be open to talking about racism." Through their work, Andrea and Beverly try to provide starting places and a safe structure for these tough-and potentially life-giving-conversations about race, fears, prejudices, and hopes to occur. In their own lives, they have become not only close colleagues, but good friends. "We're both mothers, so we share news about our kids-who are about the same age-and we're both women of faith," Andrea says. On our Sojourners home front, you may notice a slight change in the format of our magazine. We have been tinkering a bit in order to offer more editorial commentary, to cover news from the Call to Renewal, and to make it easier to read and to find what you're looking for. See what you think.
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