There was more on display Thursday night than a bunch of Edward Little students, parents and teachers holding hands and singing sounds. The event, billed as a “Celebration of Unity,” shows a commitment by the school system and the community to confront racism openly and honestly, to admit that the problem exists and to seek progressive, proactive solutions.

Racism, of course, exists at EL, just as it does almost everywhere else. A February fight at the school, which resulted in two expulsions, had racial tensions at its core. But much progress has been made at the high school.

Stephen Wessler, the director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence at the University of Southern Maine, offered high praise of the school’s efforts. He called them “courageous” and “extraordinary,” and described the school as the most forthright and committed of any that he has worked with.

Race remains a difficult topic for most of us to talk about. Even comedian Dave Chappelle – who’s ridden race-based humor to fame with his act and top-rated Comedy Central Show – is having a harder time talking about it lately. Until Time magazine found him sunning in South Africa, Chappelle had been AWOL from a $50-million TV deal. There’s nothing funny about why he vanished. Speculation had centered around drugs, the catalyst so typical for Hollywood success stories gone bad. Instead, the comedian was searching for some perspective.

He has exploited racial stereotypes to become one of the country’s funniest and most popular comedians, but he realized that the “n” word was more than just a punch line and that some people were laughing too hard – and for the wrong reasons – at his jokes. So began his self-examination.

The easy path is to deny there’s a problem and to ignore evidence to the contrary. EL began its own self-examination when it began to integrate new Somali students into what had been a predominantly white school. The process continues. Thursday night is the proof.

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