Race is no longer at the center of the national consciousness, Lemann says.

Nicholas Lemann: Well no. I mean nobody is. I would say though, you know, I don’t wanna at all go anywhere near constructs like race relations have never been worse in America. Because if you know the history . . . You know I just . . . I just . . . My last book was about reconstruction. Race relations are so much better now than they were then. It’s sort of unbelievable. We’re in a period now where the race issue is not front and center in the national consciousness. And that has some good effects and some bad effects. But that’s kind of my read – is in my lifetime, this is a low point in the level of national awareness of, you know, Black-White U.S. relations as a primo issue towering over all others. And that’s for a number of reasons, including demographic factors.

Recorded on: 11/30/07