Dialogue is Anything but Silent: A Foreword to the Black Lives Matter Special Issue

This foreword to the Black Lives Matter special issue looks to embrace active listening and open dialogue via writing, and it calls attention to the confines of traditional publishing that otherwise do not support dialogue in writing. Building upon Onwuegbuzie’s (2021) Framework for Promoting Anti-Racism in America, the foreword begins with sections that address the need to “engage in continuous self-reflection,” “listen more than you speak,” “whenever possible, collaborate with Black faculty,” and “refrain from conducting research that promotes cultural deficit models.” Thereafter, the voices of Dr. Aliya E. Holmes, Dr. David Bell, Kesshem Williams, and Leslie Laboriel underscore the courage necessary to share experiences and to engage in open dialogue; change is anything but silent.