I love a room full of black people -- even more so, a room full of beautiful black people. I can't get enough. It thrills me to no end. So when I walked into One Time Warner Center last night for the reception of Elvis Mitchell and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders's new documentary, The Blacklist, I was pretty much in heaven on the spot.

Everyone knows that Kareem Abdul Jabar is tall -- but have you ever actually stood within arm's length to a man who is 7' 2"? Wow. I didn't introduce myself because I didn't really know what I might say ("Hi, you’re tall."). Plus, I'm 5' 2" -- what kind of trauma happens when as a grown adult you stand directly next to another grown adult who is a full two feet taller than you?

Other luminaries included Oprah's best friend Gayle King, the absolutely stunning Faye Wattleton of Planned Parenthood, Al Sharpton and Dick Parsons (who both introduced and appear in the film). We arrived a bit late (pouring rain; no cabs), but I heard that other big shots like Bill T. Jones were also in attendance.

The film itself is a portrait of black America as told through interviews (conducted by Elvis Mitchell) with some of our finest: Wattleton, Sharpton, Parsons, Jones, Toni Morrison, Thelma Golden, Keenan Ivory-Wayans, Chris Rock, Suzan-Lori Parks. As the author of five interview-based books on race in America (Sugar in the Raw, Saving the Race, Uncle Tom or New Negro? among them), four of which include interviews with figures featured in The Blacklist, it's hard not to feel slightly ambivalent about seeing this film. Will it tackle the issue better? Will the voices resonate more clearly? Would my books have made better documentaries? But more to the point, does it make a difference?

That's the thing about writing, filming, chronicling ... caring about race in America -- really tough to know if what you're doing matters; if just one white person will leave the film feeling differently about the black person sitting across from them on the subway. Or vice versa. With the subject of race popping up in entertainment and media news a lot lately -- Robert Downey Jr.'s turn as a white actor playing a black character in Tropic Thunder; ongoing speculation about race politics under a Barack Obama administration; this week's issue of New York magazine is all about race -- I struggle to push past the signs of race-discussion-as-trend and continue to hold out in hope that people will stay interested and engaged and keep watching, listening and talking.

Parenthetically aside, who knew that Slash from Guns N' Roses was half-black? I sure didn't.