Barbara Trepagnier’s suggestions to seek African American friends based solely on the criterion of skin color seems to be counterproductive to what she argues throughout her book. She does encourage readers to not be color blind, but to be more aware of the things we think, say, and do in relation to race. But she also stresses the importance of not singling people out based on race. While I do think it’s important to appreciate the multi-cultural friendships that we have, I don’t think we should make friends simply because someone is of a different race. If someone came up to me and asked to be my friend because I’m white, I don’t think I would respond very positively. I think if we seek friendships based on similar interests and activities, we will naturally befriend people of different cultures. From there we can learn more about race and our awareness of others. In that regard, I do think it’s important to meet people of other cultures, but not simply with the incentive of skin color.

Also, I don’t think that having a group of friends all of the same race is automatically racist. For example, I come from a small, predominantly white area in NH, so naturally most of my friends from home are white. But when I came to college I wasn’t looking specifically to make other white friends—I was just looking to make friends. Nothing changed in my perceptions of different cultures between high school and college, but my opportunities did. Now that I have friends of races different than my own, I recognize their cultures and try to learn as much about them as I can. But I didn’t introduce myself because I saw a different skin color; I got to know them because we lived in the same dorm or we participate in the same activities.