I had a very honest and productive conversation with my co-workers about race. I feel 100 times better. I felt that they really listened to my concerns. They were able to share their side of the issue with me and I gained some new insights. I won’t go into the whole thing, but mainly I want to stress that it is possible and in my opinion VITAL to talk openly about race. If we can’t talk about it, we can’t work on it.

We didn’t solve anything, but I don’t dread the topic anymore. I’m not afraid to bring up my concerns or ask questions. I want to encourage everyone to bring their discomfort out into the open so it can be dealt with openly and not held inside to fester. Not only will you feel better, but by healing yourself, you heal the Universe.

I totally confirm the article’s point that buying highly visible status items is not so much a black or Hispanic issue, as it is an issue of poverty. I’m basing this on my experience in the Peace Corps. It was extremely frustrating to watch villagers that could barely put food on the table, rush out to buy the then brand new Motorola Razr. There were more Mercedes in my village in Georgia than there are in my neighborhood in San Francisco.

Once you’ve reached an income level where a Razr or a new pair of Jordans falls comfortably within your price range, it no longer seems like a luxury. However, you can see the same behavior that is described in the Slate article among the upper middle class residents of San Francisco when it comes to the geek status symbol of the moment: the iPhone.