This is the month when the Vineyard finds itself barely afloat in a sea of events — endless fundraisers for nonprofits large and small, clambakes for politicians (large and small), art shows, jazz concerts, off-Broadway-quality theatre, Jacob’s Pillow-quality dance, Sundance-quality film and the more traditional summer events of the Agricultural Fair, Illumination Night and the annual Oak Bluffs fireworks display. It’s our summer kaleidoscope: colorful, fascinating and a little dizzying.

The month of August is also our summer Chautauqua, with thought-provoking forums and lectures for and by those who gather on the Vineyard for their annual escape from the heat and strictures of life on the mainland.

Significantly, a cluster of events this week are focused on various aspects of one underlying issue: race relations in America. Perhaps unique among American resorts, the Vineyard is a place where African American scholars, civic leaders and cultural figures not only come to seek refuge, but feel comfortable talking openly and intelligently among themselves and with others about topics that many would prefer to ignore.

On Wednesday, Harvard Law School Prof. Charles Ogletree hosted a discussion on race and gender in sports, as part of the annual Charles Hamilton Houston Institute forum at the regional high school. Panelists included the Hon. Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde, a five-time champion boxer and daughter of former heavyweight champion boxer Joe Frazier; Dr. George Koonce, a sports scholar and former NFL player; Richard Michelson, an award-winning poet; and Renee Powell, a professional golfer and daughter of golfer and course designer Bill Powell.

Yesterday, an impressive multiracial lineup of panelists discussed race and joblessness at the Old Whaling Church as part of an annual forum of the W.E.B. Dubois Institute for African American Research at Harvard. Hosted by Prof. Henry Louis (Skip) Gates Jr., the panel included economists Heather Boushey and Roland G. Freyer Jr., as well as former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers and David Simon, the creator of the HBO television series the Wire and Treme.

And the conversation continues through the weekend, with a Friday morning brunch dedicated to discussion about the Advancement Project, a national civil rights effort dedicated to racial justice, and a separate early Friday evening panel titled Learning from Trayvon: How Media and the Law can Better Serve Black Men and Boys. On Saturday afternoon the NAACP Legal Defense Fund will sponsor its own panel discussion about voter rights, with another Harvard Law School professor, Lani Gunier, among others. Then on Sunday, the journalist Michelle Norris will host a talk about her latest work with the Race Card Project, a fascinating effort to catalogue the conversation that grew out of her book tour across the country two years ago.

In an interview this week with the Gazette. Professor Gates remarked on the atmosphere here that enables people to get real about race.

“Where else can we . . . have such an extraordinary cross-section of the black intelligentsia as well as prominent people in the business world and investment banking world?” he told the newspaper. “So it’s a unique opportunity for us to be with each other, and not only with black people, but to be with white people who are our friends and colleagues and who are very similar to us politically. It is a unique place in that sense. I don’t know of any place in the United States where such a representative portion of the black and white political, business and intellectual elite fraternize on such a friendly, equal basis.”

The Vineyard is not immune from racism, but it is to our credit that it is a place where the issue can be discussed.