Whenever the topic of racism gets brought up in the media, you will almost always hear someone arguing that it continues to exist because we, as a country, are unwilling to engage in an open discussion about race.

Cable news anchors often present this point as if they have all the answers and would reveal them to us if we would just sit down and engage in such an open, honest discussion.

What they really want is not a conversation, however, but a congregation. They only want to have an open discussion about race if the people that they are discussing it with share the same views and values as them. If not, rational discussion often gives way to spiteful rhetoric and competing rants.

Not only does it seem impossible to have an honest conversation about racism, but it may very well be a bad career move. Consider what happened to Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez.

Williams recently made headlines for his comments during his appearance on Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor.

“Look, Bill, I’m not a bigot[…],” Williams said. “But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

NPR fired Williams two days later, although they claimed that the official reason was that he took a public stance on a controversial issue and undermined the credibility of the news outlet.

Likewise, Sanchez, who used to be a news anchor for CNN, was fired for his remarks on a Sirius XM radio show, in which he called Jon Stewart a bigot, also insinuating that Jewish people are not a minority, and they run CNN and other networks.

Obviously, I would never defend these remarks, but I do believe that both Sanchez and Williams had the right to state their opinions, however misinformed they were. In fact, I believe that these types of opinions must be expressed if we ever hope to eradicate them.

The first step in having an open discussion about race is realizing the polarity of its components and being ready to address the other sides of the issue.

For instance, Pete Dominick, the host of the aforementioned Sirius XM radio show, ironically used to work for The Daily Show. Instead of letting the conversation degenerate into a shouting match, he challenged Sanchez to provide specific examples of Stewart’s “bigotry” and even got him to retract that particular phrasing.

Also, it helps to keep in mind that any efforts to perpetuate or defend racist beliefs are fundamentally rooted in ignorance.

I am not talking about ignorance in the sense of stupidity. Racists can be smart people. Rather, I am talking about the sort of ignorance that takes its form in being unaware and willfully uninformed in an effort to simplify the world by making broad generalizations.

The way we talk about the act of talking about race makes it seem as if it is something that has to be discussed by large groups in some sort of town hall-type setting. But change cannot happen with 100 odious talking heads; if someone is to change their deep-seated views on race and bigotry, it has to be a personal experience.

And if we are ever going to be able to have an open discussion about race, we have to realize that it starts with understanding, forgiving and correcting such ignorance as individuals.