Yes, All White People Are Racists -- Now Let's Do Something About It

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/yes-all-white-people-are-racists-now-lets-do-something-about-it

As Americans, we like to think of ourselves as a forgiving people. We've enshrined the assumption of innocence in our legal code; we take pride in giving second chances to those who misstep. And when it comes to questions of bias, we follow a similar script. In American life, no one is presumed racist without cause. People generally become racists in our minds by engaging in actions or deeds we've deemed as such (paging Steve Scalise). But what if that perception is inherently wrong? What if Americans — of all races, but especially white Americans — don't deserve the benefit of our doubt?
It's an admittedly uncomfortable question, as it puts all of us — me as I write this, you reading it, our friends, our relatives, our colleagues — under a type of scrutiny to which we're unaccustomed. But a growing body of research suggests that this idea holds merit: Implicit racial bias undergirds our culture's relationship with race, even as explicit displays are increasingly uncommon.

So what is "implicit bias," and how is it different from the more overt bias we typically focus on when discussing racism in this country?

The most comprehensive study of implicit bias to date comes from "Project Implicit," a nonprofit organization founded by researchers from Harvard, the University of Washington and the University of Virginia in 1998. Project Implicit uses a novel technique to test the hidden biases we hold toward certain demographics, employing a short online test that brings the results of their findings right into your living room. (I highly recommend you take their test here.)

In the Implicit Bias module on race, for instance, "positive" and "negative" words are paired with computer-generated images of Black African faces and White European faces. The test instructs you to match the categories by quickly pressing a button on the left or right side of your keyboard, so that you're connecting "good" words with black faces and "bad" words with white faces — and vice versa. The test measures how quickly you're able to successfully follow the exam's instructions; if you're better at pairing "good" words with white faces than with black faces, you probably have some measure of implicit bias against black people. (As I did when I took the test.) Other modules explore one's potential gender bias, age bias, religious bias, and so forth.

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. This article is a difficult read for me, because its starts is fatally flawed ...

What if Americans — of all races, but especially white Americans — don't deserve the benefit of our doubt?

And more:

Implicit racial bias undergirds our culture's relationship with race, even as explicit displays are increasingly uncommon.

Racial bias does not equal racism ... they have described BIGOTRY, not racism.

[INdemo]

16. I agree this article is flawed. Here is my

opinion and its an obvious conclusion that is never ever mentioned and I don't understand why a respectable journalist hasn't written about this.
The Civil Rights Act was passed and signed into law in 1965.That was 50 years ago and yet today discrimination has not changed in many ways.
1965, 50 years ago, that's two generations+ ago. So it obviously shows that children born after this legislation was passed were still taught to hate. Taught to discriminate by their parents and others.
So what if those parents taught their children that people are no different because their skin color is different? Really would we still, 50 years after the civil rights bill, have this hatred, this discrimination? What if those 2 generations+ of children were taught in fact that all men are equal?
I'm just a country boy from Indiana but when I joined the Navy I could not believe there were crosses still being burned and KKK assemblies on my way from Norfolk to Richmond VA in 1966,1967. It was unbelievable.
It is obvious that having an African American President has brought out the worst in many and obviously even from those we elect to Congress.
I can see that our 10,12,14 year olds today don't even know what racism is judging by my grandchildren's friends. So just maybe those adults that still carry around that hated, including our legislators, could learn a lot from our kids.

[MrScorpio]

21. Agree, it came to a clumsily put conclusion.

Frankly, I've seen better written articles about race bias an the affects of white supremacy in our society.

[cali]

2. Changing how people think is a long arduous process

which is why I believe it's better to focus on changing behavior- including speech. Interesting article

[1StrongBlackMan]

17. Absolutely ...

In the short run, I don't care what you (in the generic sense) think of me, I care very much how you treat me.

In the longer term, thought follows behavior ... When we (consciously and purposefully) act in a particular manner, our thinking changes to accommodate that act. For example, when we consciously and purposefully act with confidence, over time, confidence become our thought norm.

[FBaggins]

3. No they aren't

I have a strong bias for blue cheese salad dressing over ranch, but that doesn't mean that I would use my influence on the school board to ban ranch from the schools.

Run the same test with different hair/eye colors and you'll find that all men likely have a bias toward some combination. That doesn't mean that all men would discriminate against a woman with the "wrong" color hair.

Bias and racism are not the same thing.

[1StrongBlackMan]

18. +1. n/t

[Nye Bevan]

5. White person takes online test that reveals he is a bigot,

concludes that "all white people are racists". What about white people who the online test shows are not bigots?

[Nye Bevan]

12. I edited for clarity (nt)

[seveneyes]

6. Yes, all generalizations are bullshit

Including this one.

[Recursion]

7. There are about 1000 more important questions than "whether I am racist"

If we could solve the objective, concrete problems minorities face without making me "less racist", that's a solution I would love.

[1StrongBlackMan]

19. More important to you ...

(maybe, that was an inartful expression; but why would you love to cure society's ills, without your having to address the cause of those ills?

I would offer that a refusal to examine one's own racism will lead to answers to the wrong questions ... much like, treating the manifestations of an illness, does not cure the underlying illness.

[Recursion]

20. I don't know that racism can be fixed

Racism is a role. It's a part we play in the system. Not sure there's a fix for that.

[Sarcastica]

9. Solutions cannot spring from a false premise.

All people hold preferences and biases, white, black, yellow and red. Some cultures have done a better job at dulling this tendency. But the real solution comes from the individual and then spreads throughout the community. Each one of us, every race and creed must realize the tendency and make change within.

[Fumesucker]

10. Even the blind?

I suppose they had someone describe the pictures to the blind subjects.

[Motown_Johnny]

11. Yes, all PEOPLE are racist....

By singling out white people you/they are making a statement that one ethnicity is different than others.

This is a racist statement. It also supports the racist arguments that there are basic differences between ethnicities.

I did not read the rest of the post simply because the headline is fatally flawed. Anyone who wrote that, or agrees with it, has no idea how to confront this issue.

[Fumesucker]

14. Confronting the issue isn't the point, trolling is

Xchrom posts a lot of articles, many for our enlightenment and some few others to be mocked, this falls into the latter category.

A good dose of mocking stupidity brightens my whole day, thanks xchrom.

[1StrongBlackMan]

22. This betrays a misunderstanding of the phenomena of racism ...

Racism describes a particular brand of bigotry, where that bigotry is supportive of/enabled by institutional/cultural power.

The article is flawed, because it equates incorrectly intrinsic bias with racism; but, that is not supporting the idea that there are differences between ethnicities, but rather, the differences in how racism affects different ethnicities.,

[Mike Nelson]

13. Pot...

...meet Kettle.

[polly7]

15. I've tried many times to imagine how I think, or what I've ever thought or

Last edited Thu Jan 15, 2015, 10:39 AM - Edit history (1)

done in my life that has made me racist and honestly, I just don't see it. I don't deny for a second that my status as a white person gives me advantages in a society that in many ways benefits greatly from racism, but personally .... for me, no, I honestly don't understand how I could be considered racist.

I absolutely hate it, and it breaks my heart every time to see or hear examples of it from people I know and respect in most ways. I've been in plenty of arguments even with those in my own family over really stupid comments and actually left family gatherings to go home, for fear I'd throw something if I didn't. My Dad was like me, he never met a person no matter what skin colour or ethnicity he didn't consider a friend, nothing but what was in a person's heart mattered to him.

I'm not claiming any sort of superiority in this, I just can't claim it.

Off to take the test, maybe it can show me how my thinking is wrong.

My results from three tests:

Your Result
Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between European American and African American.

Your Result
Your data suggest little or no association between Native Am. and White Am. with Foreign and American. - A bit surprising, I do believe that NA Indigenous people were and are the first Canadians and Americans, I take this to mean I don't believe overwhelmingly that where someone originates from dictates his/her status as a citizen of any country.

Your Result
Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for Dark Skin compared to Light Skin. - Quite surprising actually, I can only explain this one by empathy I feel for people who are not white, knowing what so many have gone through and are living with today ... although I don't know how that would translate itself in that test.

My letters are all worn off my keyboard and I'm in the dark, so it didn't help finding the e and i fast at the start. Not sure how much these tests really tell you ...

[Newsjock]

23. More evidence that when the far left wraps around back and meets the far right ...

... they end up being essentially the same thing.

Some of the biggest tripe I've seen from a "progressive" site in quite some time. But I suppose it's worth discussing the article here, because it's become almost an accepted truism that it's OK in many "progressive" circles to loathe all white people, regardless of any other minority group to which they might belong.

As long as certain elements of the Democratic Party keep perpetuating this exclusionary meme (just as certain elements of the Republican Party have their own exclusionary memes), we will continue to alienate many of those who should support what we otherwise stand for.