Prejudice Today and Implicit Association Tests

For our third installment in Black and White Week, I'm making an admittedly odd interpretation of the theme by having a little micro-discussion on racial prejudices. Won't you join me?

I remember some years ago coming across a study (no idea how academic it was, to be fair) that said our generation is a bit impatient with the notion of racism. As in - why aren't we past this already? Why does this keep coming up? It's a nice thought, in a way, but it also implies the danger that we are not giving the issue its due diligence. Feeling impervious to what is considered a widespread concern creates a sudden vulnerability: those who forget the past and all that.

Still, it's just some random article - probably misremembered at that. But the idea rings true to me. The fact is, racism does keep coming up; a brief glance at the last month's news will tell you that. Being flippant about it doesn't deal with it properly. And in spite of our blog's raison d'etre, I don't plan on offering up much more of an opinion on this topic today. In fact, I more just want to make the observation that racism is still very relevant, still a problem.

But then, where to start? How does a better discussion begin? Lately I've been fascinated by the Implicit Association Tests study going on at Harvard right now. The intro page offers up the suggestion that people might not know their minds as well as they think. The tests are an effort to compare/contrast our conscious views with our unconscious ones. This includes attitudes toward gender, religion, race, and much more.  They are careful to warn before taking the test that you might not like the results, and furthermore, they acknowledge that these results are ultimately just interpretations.  Still. Aren't you curious? Maybe in order to have a better conversation about troubling prejudices, we need to better know where we stand.  To use another very famous quote, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Take the tests here. Thanks for reading my ramblings today. Erika's back tomorrow with black and white outfit ideas, and in case you missed it, be sure to check out Tracey's black and white soda from yesterday!