Example Case Story
I recall a conversation from many years ago with a Houston, Texas baseball player (white man) who lived in Houston most of his adult life. He tried to explain his attitude toward blacks by saying, “I don’t believe they are inferior or should have fewer rights. I just don’t like them.” In teasing out why, it boiled down to the general statement, “they are unpleasant”. But his African-American ball player colleagues “were different” – even though “they weren’t interested in hanging” with him.
Can you consider this white baseball player as racist? Perhaps, in that he has generally an aversion toward black people. But it gets tricky when we really dig into what it really means to be racist – saying someone is racist has a rather specific meaning in society.
The reason that one might easily find oneself labeling this man as racist, may be based in one's own implicit or general attitudes. A white Texas man must surely have a heritage of racism since he grew up in and lives in the south (stereotype). Though it may easily be concluded, that this white man’s bias against blacks is a matter of heritage, easy conclusions do not guarantee veracity.
In reality, for truth's sake, we cannot assume merely by association that someone grew up in racism, though such works for political rhetoric. It is noteworthy such is technically as well as categorically the same as racial stereotypes, but its socio-emotionality is inert.
Regardless, what if this man did not grow up in Texas? What if he just moved there from say, Iowa so to play for the Astros?
Let’s say this white man grew up in a rural setting in Iowa, with a childhood so engrossed in hard work, baseball and school he had virtually no exposure to stereotypes available in the culture. His parents taught values that prohibited him developing negative attitudes about any group of people – whether black, or Jew – anyone. He studied about slavery and the plight of the blacks and developed a disgust for any form of bigotry. His only knowledge of blacks was the atrocities they endured.
He attended an Iowa university where he was exposed to the IAT for the first time. Shocked, his teachers attributed to him having taken it before because in his first test he showed a slight preference for blacks.
He was drafted by the Houston Astros and moved to Houston, Texas where he remained a resident for the rest of his life. Throughout his life in Houston, he was exposed to the reality of racial tensions – only it wasn’t anything like he learned in school. Some black colleagues weren’t interested in even having conversations with him unless other blacks weren’t present. He even faced potential harm once when he stopped to help a young black family whose car had stalled, and the black man threatened him to leave. To him, enough of his experiences with blacks were unpleasant to warrant his aversion.
Having been exposed to the societal stereotypes as an adult and with his unpleasant experiences with blacks, he developed general/implicit negative attitudes toward blacks – even though his specific attitudes about specific black people he knew personally would override the general attitudes. His last IAT score revealed a strong preference for whites.
Can you consider this white baseball player as racist? Perhaps, in that he has generally an aversion toward black people. But it gets tricky when we really dig into what it really means to be racist – saying someone is racist has a rather specific meaning in society.
The reason that one might easily find oneself labeling this man as racist, may be based in one's own implicit or general attitudes. A white Texas man must surely have a heritage of racism since he grew up in and lives in the south (stereotype). Though it may easily be concluded, that this white man’s bias against blacks is a matter of heritage, easy conclusions do not guarantee veracity.
In reality, for truth's sake, we cannot assume merely by association that someone grew up in racism, though such works for political rhetoric. It is noteworthy such is technically as well as categorically the same as racial stereotypes, but its socio-emotionality is inert.
Regardless, what if this man did not grow up in Texas? What if he just moved there from say, Iowa so to play for the Astros?
Let’s say this white man grew up in a rural setting in Iowa, with a childhood so engrossed in hard work, baseball and school he had virtually no exposure to stereotypes available in the culture. His parents taught values that prohibited him developing negative attitudes about any group of people – whether black, or Jew – anyone. He studied about slavery and the plight of the blacks and developed a disgust for any form of bigotry. His only knowledge of blacks was the atrocities they endured.
He attended an Iowa university where he was exposed to the IAT for the first time. Shocked, his teachers attributed to him having taken it before because in his first test he showed a slight preference for blacks.
He was drafted by the Houston Astros and moved to Houston, Texas where he remained a resident for the rest of his life. Throughout his life in Houston, he was exposed to the reality of racial tensions – only it wasn’t anything like he learned in school. Some black colleagues weren’t interested in even having conversations with him unless other blacks weren’t present. He even faced potential harm once when he stopped to help a young black family whose car had stalled, and the black man threatened him to leave. To him, enough of his experiences with blacks were unpleasant to warrant his aversion.
Having been exposed to the societal stereotypes as an adult and with his unpleasant experiences with blacks, he developed general/implicit negative attitudes toward blacks – even though his specific attitudes about specific black people he knew personally would override the general attitudes. His last IAT score revealed a strong preference for whites.
The moral of the story is the self-fulfilling prophesy. In this case, enough blacks in this white mans life fulfilled their prophesy of experiencing aversion in this white man, by interacting with him and behaving in a way the white man developed the aversion. Racism is a two-way street and if we are going to get anywhere, we need to flat-line the political and activist paradigms so prevalent in society - and then be pragmatic and neutral in our solutions.
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