Note from the Editor

An earlier issue of The Psychoanalytic Review included a Call for Papers for a special issue devoted to Race. Essays and personal views were invited in addition to clinical experience illuminating the many facets of the topic. This call was followed by a second, directed specifically to the membership of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, the organization for which The Review is the official journal. Given the concerns about race raised in that community, and the impact of the current climate on the psychoanalytic community in general, I was prepared—and hoped—to be inundated with submissions and considered that it might even be necessary to plan a double issue. Alas, quite the opposite proved to be the case.

I was promised papers by two members of NPAP, both of whom came through. I sought contributions from outside that community and am grateful to have received a paper by a known scholar in the field. The issue you have in your hands includes all three of these. A fourth essay, dealing with race tangentially within a larger philosophical context, was also included as an ambitious effort to view the topic from an entirely different perspective. Finally, four noteworthy book reviews addressing the subject from varied viewpoints round out the issue.

Invaluable as these contributions are, I remain disappointed that they were not joined by others. I imagine that many readers will wonder why so few analysts rose to the occasion to submit a paper addressing one of the most critical social issues of our time. Rather than speculate on the reasons, I wish to reiterate the importance of the topic and ask that analysts continue to give thoughtful consideration to sharing their experiences and perspectives of a topic that has too long been ignored or put aside by well-meaning members of the psychoanalytic community. Once again, then, I ask all members of that community to think deeply about the many parameters of the interaction of psychoanalysis and race