Speaking to an audience of several hundred people in Sanders Theater yesterday, Professor Cornel R. West '74 and David Carrasco, a professor of the history of religion at Princeton University, encouraged students to begin a new dialogue on racial issues.

The afternoon discussion, which focused on relationships between Latinos and blacks, was moderated by Doris Sommer, professor of romance languages and literatures.

Carrasco, towering over his colleagues at well-over six feet tall, opened the dialogue by questioning America's traditional constructs of race.

"I am tired of seeing all of this that erases the complexity of the racial issue," Carrasco said.

The dialogue placed a new definition of race matters at the top of the agenda.

"When we're talking about black-brown dialogue, it is in no way confined to the interests of Latinas and Latinos and black people," West said. "We're talking about the future of democracy."

With Latinos the fastest-growing group in the nation, they will soon be the largest minority in the United States.

Carrasco called this phenomenon the "brown millennium."

"I do not doubt that one of the problems of the 20th century is the color line--or the colors lines," Carrasco said.

Both professors emphasized the need for a friendlier relationship between the two races.

"When you have two groups of people who have caught so much unnecessary hell under modern conditions, they tend to be a little paranoid," West said.

"The question becomes, can we trust each other?" West said.

West also noted the influence of the larger culture on the two groups' vision of each other.

"Black and brown often view each other through a white supremacist lens," West said. "Where did that come from?"

The dialogue was open, prompting activity with the audience.

Carrasco's multimedia presentation included a brief slide show and an upbeat, bilingual version of the traditional civil rights song "We Shall Overcome," during which one enthused audience member got up and danced.

Finally, the two professors asked for community.

"What I'm asking from my black sisters and brothers is to give me some shades on this black-white discourse," Carrasco said.

"Can we take this new demography and turn it into a new democracy?" Carrasco said.

"Let us proceed," West said. "Much is at stake."

Many audience members said they were pleased with the dialogue.

"I think that too often people frame race dialogues as an issue between blacks and whites and forget Latinos and Asians," said Jia-Rui Chong '99.

"It's a really encouraging trend that there's more interaction and discussion between ethnic groups, because America is a complicated place," Chong said.

Chong pointed to the recent discussion between blacks and Jews at Adams House and the recent dialogue between Asians and Latinos as example of increased racial discussion on the Harvard campus.

Other audience members pointed to the dialogue as a start to ending some of the nation's inter-minority tensions.

"I think there's definitely tension between all minorities that we have to fight for the same resources," said Rodney M. Glasgow, a first-year concentrating in psychology and African-American studies. "I call them crumbs."

"The black-brown discussion takes it to a higher level of worth," Glasgow said. "I find it very promising."