Jefferson's descendents discuss race relations, acceptance.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. _ Two women who claim the third president of the United States as their common ancestor sat side by side on a stage at Marquette University.

One is white. The other is black.

The blood link between the two, and the social and cultural chasm it crosses, summarizes the predicament and the promise of race relations in the United States, the women told the audience of about 100 who turned out Tuesday night to hear these avowed descendants of the author of the Declaration of Independence.

"You can't identify a problem without talking about it," said Julia Jefferson Westerinen, who is white but claims an ancestral link to founding father …