Sorry folks but it turns out we are all a little racist. I’m not proud of it, but that happens to be the case. Let me explain.
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There is a group called Project Implicit (founded by 3 scientists at Harvard) that set out to study the biases that we all hold. What they discovered was quite interesting.
Playing The Race Card
They set up a simple experiment to learn more about racism. They had 4 groups of cards, two referring to race (white and black) and two referring to morality (good or bad). Subjects were first asked to pair the white and good cards and black and bad cards. They were then asked to reverse the order and pair white with bad and black with good. The experiment showed that it was more challenging for participants to pair white with bad and black with good. Kind of strange right? I thought so as well.
The Brain Can Be Dumb
In cases like memory recall it works by pairing similar objects together. When I say peanut butter what do you think of? There’s a good chance that the thought “jelly” arose in your mind. This is an example of “compartmentalization”. The brain does this to store and recall things more efficiently.
The Reality Of Racism
Now that we know how the brain works the findings of the experiment become a bit more interesting. Was it more challenging to pair white with bad because we truly believe that white is right and black is bad? If you look at our culture you can see similar stereotypes throughout a variety of our expression. Look at our Disney fairy tales, every princess is shrouded in white clothing (and white skinned) while the “evil monsters” are often dark and scary. This white/black dichotomy is something that we are exposed to from a very young age, it’s no wonder the experiment showed the results that it did.
Beliefs Into Behavior
Some folks at the University of Colorado wanted to take this a bit further and see how our beliefs impacted our behavior. They created a simple video game a series of pictures would flash on the screen. Then, after a random amount of time, someone would appear on your screen with either a handgun or a cell phone/wallet. You could shoot the subject or not. They discovered that participants were more likely to shoot unarmed black men then white. It turns out our beliefs DO impact our behavior.
You Have The Power
Not willing to leave any card unturned, the folks at University of Colorado took it one step further and requisitioned the Denver Police Department for further testing. They had active duty police officers play the game to see if they would behave differently … and it turns out they did. Even though most, if not all of the officers held the same implicit belief system, they were able to triumph over their biases and performed in an objective manner (yay for police training). However, it is important to note that when they had cognitive deficits (lack of sleep, external distraction) this improvement in processing was diminished.
Am I A Racist??
Now that you know this information, what will you do with it? Well I know when I first became aware of the fact that I was biased (if not down right racist) it made me feel rather upset with myself. I prided myself on being open minded and treating people fairly, yet I still held these unhealthy beliefs. So, I made the decision that I hope you all will make, I decided to change my beliefs.
Change Takes Effort
It’s quite simple actually, and here’s how you can do it.
I call it the AAA of life.
- Acknowledge
- Accept
- Adjust
When you notice that you are acting or even just perceiving things in a way you disagree with, start by acknowledging the fallacy.
Next, accept that you have this belief and do your best experience it without judgement or blame (if you are beating yourself up about it you are less likely to make positive change).
Lastly, try adjusting your belief.
- Imagine a scenario where you feel/see things differently.
- Change your inner dialogue by telling yourself a different story.
- Adjust your feeling through meditation or breath work.
Anytime you create an intentional input you will start to adjust the belief. Over time you can completely dismantle the belief and replace it with something that is more conducive to your well-being.
Be The Change You Want To See
Hopefully you have learned something from this post. My goal was not to bad mouth anyone but rather bring light to an issue that most of us are unaware of. If you are feeling brave, try taking one of the tests at Project Implicit (link). They are rather interesting and will allow you to learn more about yourself. Remember folks, don’t beat yourself up about this. These beliefs are things we picked up as children before we could even reason about their correctness. You now have the knowledge and tools to make a change. It’s up to you but know that if you do this work you are actively striving to make the world a better place.
Play the game and post your scores! Let’s see who’s the best!
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Humans naturally categorize things as a survival instinct. It’s either you’re in or you’re out. Easier to stay alive in a group than be an outcast and have to fend for yourself. So if you’re not racist than you judge against other religions or gender or country or whatever.
I am white and I went from living in a very white community to living in a mainly black country for about ten years and my children grew up there it definately made me less conscious of peoples race and my children honestly seem not to see it. Too bad we can't all live in a completely different community like this.
Look at you. Blogging on the line of controversy.
:)
I liked the bit about not beating ourselves up over it. I'd agree with most of what you wrote and that we are all to a degree racist. Or at least, xenophobic (which I / everyone else seem to use interchangeably half the time so I take them to mean pretty much the same thing, essentially).
So, yeah, we mustn't think too bad of ourselves and we can adjust our however-instinctive racist feelings. It just takes a little more effort and the knowledge the world will almost certainly run that little bit more smoothly if we at least try.
Is it natural? We're just the civilised animal so, yes, I'd say it is. Lots of mammals like their territories, defending them to the death against those who cross over boundaries often marked with excrement.
We're mostly above all that but yes, it will forever linger in our collective psyche, a fear / dislike of foreigners / other races.
So, I wasn't at all shocked ;) and like to think I mostly have it under control by being fairly colour-blind so to speak.
Interesting post and something that will forever be relevant.
Thanks for the super relevant response. I was uncertain about whether or not I should post this... probably not the most exciting thing for people to be reading... yet ultimately I decided that it was an important thing to share
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Great article, I think the important of recognising inborn bias and actively trying to adress it in onselef is super important!
Thanks for posting this. I am glad you added ways to change your beliefs. I am brave and I am going to take the test at Project Implicit.
:) Proud of you!
I just having the same thought before on one of my post but may be my contents was not as good as your in the way of explaining about this matter.. I am glad that there are more steemers aware about this.
I love your posts they are always insightful. I think racism will dim itself out within a few generations. I think it starts with teaching our children to have a better mindset than we do and hope they learn from our mistakes
I was raised in a racist home. I have spent my entire life trying to de-program myself from their ignorant teachings.
I remember that song from Avenue Q "Everyone's a little bit racist" and it rings true. I never believed it until I listened to the song over and over and it made a lot of sense. There's nothing wrong with prejudice to an extent. I'm that way towards a lot of people as a means to keep my guard up.
My favorite hip hop song Last Day by Phonte also talks about racism in a funny way.
As for the results of one of the test, here's mine:
Here is your result:
Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Dark Skinned People over Light Skinned People.
:) Thank you for having the courage to share your results. Glad you replied
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STOPSeems that in some sense everybody is racist.
This neural pathway we have in our brain since a very young age, as you said mostly through watching tv. It's a divide and conquer strategy to turn us against each other.
Yes racism is all around and difficult to escape.Everything starts with family circle,parents, and than the school ,education. Equality & Fraternity are nice words but the reality obviously is quite different.
We are all conditioned by our environment. Finally, someone decided that a blockbuster with almost all black cast but a few minor white character (or was it just one?) is timely. I am talking about the Black Panther. The world is changing. After watching that movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I kind of see the world differently. Take a look at this picture and tell yourself honestly, which girl is better looking.
i love that you used the lion king to explain your point
Don't you think that racism is a big issue in Western countries? In most of the Eastern countries where there's social divisions according to caste system, religion, ones skin colour, the society does not give much thought about it.
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