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Jenna,

Your thought in the first paragraph about the possible limitations of diversity in the NASA example really made me think about how we define "productivity."  While it's important to remember that a racist mindset can stubbornly persist despite repeated exposure to people who contradict the stereotype, it's equally important (not to mention heartening!)  to remember that those attitudes can change.  

Your example interests me because it calls into question our expectations of productivity.  Maybe the problem here is actually our assumption about which outcomes of a conversation deserve the label of "productive". To me, a conversation in which two racist people argued actually  might be very productive in that their attitudes of how an "individual = the whole" group might change.  However, we as observers haven't recognized this outcome as inherently productive because we're focusing too much on finding the answer to the problem that they're solving.  Your post helped me realize that there are actually many kinds of productivity that can result from diverse encounters.  Maybe we could, as many teachers do, re-label at least this one as a "learning opportunity" rather than an "opportunity to find the answer to a problem".

Thanks for your thoughts!