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Black and white relations have hit bottom. Where do we go from here?

Not since the civil rights alliance of the 1960s collapsed has the gulf between white and black America appeared so unbridgeable. The O.J. Simpson verdict and its aftermath -- in particular the endlessly televised images of blacks celebrating an outcome that many whites regarded as a blatant, race-driven perversion of justice -- seemed to announce, with shocking suddenness, that the two races lacked even a common language with which to work out their differences.

Nor did the Million Man March, following hard on the trial's heels, help to restore mutual trust. The shadow of Louis Farrakhan, and the separatist ethos proclaimed by the Nation of Islam, clouded the march's positive message of black responsibility and pride.

The Simpson case was luridly atypical -- most black defendants are neither rich nor famous, and much of society neither knows nor cares about their fates -- but it deepened the fault lines of American racial politics. Even white liberals are beginning to question whether America's legacy of oppression and racism still constitutes a legitimate reason for preferential treatment -- or an excuse for uncivil behavior. At the same time, increasing numbers of blacks are openly wondering whether the goal of integration is worth pursuing.

This is precisely why honest communication between whites and blacks is needed now, instead of the tired minuet of nervous politeness and predictable grievance. In the hopes of stimulating a genuine dialogue, SALON asked a number of commentators a simple question: How can whites and blacks begin to talk? And what should they talk about? Their answers follow. We hope you join in the discussion.

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THE PANEL (click on any name to go to discussion):

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a commentator and writer. He is the author of The Assassination of the Black Male Image and the forthcoming Beyond O.J.: Race, Sex and Class Lessons for America (Middle Passage Press) due out in January, 1996.

Joel Kotkin is a public policy fellow at Pepperdine University and the author of Tribes: How Race, Religion and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy (Random House, paperback, 1994)

Shelby Steele is a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a professor of English at San Jose State University. He is the author of The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America (HarperCollins, paperback, 1991).

Richard Rodriguez is the author of Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, and most recently, Days of Obligation: An Argument with my Mexican Father (Penguin, paperback 1993). He is an associate editor at Pacific News Service.

Jim Sleeper has been a columnist at the New York Daily News and an editorial writer at New York Newsday. He is currently at work on a book about American identity. He is the author of The Closest of Strangers: Liberalism and the Politics of Race in New York (Norton, paperback 1991).

Patricia Smith is a poet and a columnist for the Boston Globe. She is the author of Close to Death, Big Towns, Big Talk and Life according to Motown.

Stanley Crouch, essayist and critic, received a MacArthur Foundation "genius" award in 1993. His new book of essays, The All-American Skin Game (Pantheon) is due out this month.

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Perceptions, realities: Black and white, by numbers