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It is obvious that race remains an issue in many areas of American society today. An article about Bernard C. Parks, a Los Angeles police chief who was denied a second five-year term, was published in the New York Times on April 10, 2002. After the Police Commission announced their decision, members of the African-American community were outraged, as they thought prejudice was partially to blame. Even prominent black leaders in the community said they were not convinced of the merits of the commission’s decision. (Sterngold) In that respect, Dr. Richard W. Thomas, a professor in the History and Urban Affairs department at Michigan State University, believes that a society cannot make progress until it is racially just and unified. He says that this can only occur if the community is truly dedicated to interracial love, fellowship, and unity. Dr. Richard W. Thomas was born in Detroit in 1939. He was raised as a Baptist in an all black community on the east side of the city. Thomas attended an all black school until the 1950’s, when his parents urged him to switch to an integrated school, which they thought would help prepare him for a future in a more racially diverse world. In 1957, at the age of 18, Thomas joined the Marin