What happens when we confront racial stereotypes?

Two Roswell churches. One mostly black. One mostly white. Got together to talk about race. Here’s where the story began. (Erica A. Hernandez/AJC)

We know them.

And we know how ugly stereotypes about another race can be. Snide remarks, persistent and damaging, slopped across social media by trolls: White people are this way. Black people always do that.

Trolls aren't the only ones who buy into such stereotypes, of course. Well-meaning people often believe (or suspect) that there's at least some truth in them.

But what if we confront those notions head on in real time? And when someone does, what does it look like and what are the repercussions?

Ten people from two Roswell churches, one black and one white, met for hours over about four months to try to chip away at the foundation that supports those stereotypes. Bit by bit, the members who were primarily from Eagle's Nest Church and Roswell Community Church, tried to dismantle an obstacle that has taken generations to build up.

They did something most people fail to do. They acknowledged that there was a problem and that it wouldn't get better without calling it out for what it was.

Read the AJC's special report about this "Conversations" project between the two churches.