"Race is an area in which Americans have been conditioned by a history of painful conflict into a rigid and unforgiving propriety. Each race has its politics and its party line that impose a certain totalitarianism over the maverick thoughts of the individual. Because of this we become a bit afraid of what we really think about race. ... Trust is a hard swim in waters where received wisdom so systematically dominates thought and intuition." (Introduction, x.)

"Now I know that if there was a secret to writing this book, it was simply to start from the painfully obvious premise that all races are composed of human beings." (Introduction, xi.)

"I think the racial struggle in America has always been primarily a struggle for innocence." (Chapter 1, pg. 5.)

"Once race-holding is triggered by fear, it ensnares us in a web of self-defeating attitudes that end up circumventing the new freedoms...