Alumnus Kevin Boyle leads 'A Conversation on Race'

“We’ve made enormous progress,” Kevin Boyle said.

But Detroit is far from an ideal community, in regard to its race relations, he said.

Boyle, an award-winning author and historian, visited University of Michigan-Dearborn Feb. 17 to participate in “A Conversation on Race.”

Race often is a hot topic, especially because its how some people perceive the world. But those who perceive the world through a racial lens have an opportunity to change.

“That which we make, we can change,” Boyle said.

Boyle, a native Detroiter and U-M alumnus, is well known for his book, “Arc of Justice,” which portrayed a 1920s Detroit murder trial that divided a city and ignited a civil rights struggle. The book earned Boyle a National Book Award for nonfiction, and he also was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Addell Anderson, director of the U-M Detroit Center, joined Boyle in the University Center’s Kochoff Hall and fielded questions from audience members about race and its affect on the Motor City.

Anderson discussed how race incites fear in some people, including those who are afraid to visit Detroit because of its extensive African-American population.

“Those sorts of fears are very unfounded,” she said. “What is it about Detroit that makes people afraid?”

“A Conversation on Race” is UM-Dearborn’s ongoing series designed to promote open and honest discussion about racial issues.