So, you think that now that Obama is on his way to being sworn in as President of the United States that racism is a thing of the past, that we are now truly living in a so-called post-racial world, that blackness and Black Americans are finally accepted at the table of humanity and that everyone will sit around the campfire singing songs of Kum-ba-ya, holding the hands of a Black person, and not cringe at touching the flesh of a Black person, as well as boldly speak up for a Black person when that non-Black sees/hears of wrongs against a fellow citizen who happens to be Black?
Not by the behaviour of these college students as this psychology study shows.
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WASHINGTON – Think you wouldn’t tolerate a racist act? Think again, says a surprising experiment that exposed some college students to one and found indifference at best.
Here’s the scene: Researchers in Toronto recruited 120 non-black York University students for what purported to be a psychology study.
A participant was directed to a room where two actors posing as fellow participants — one black, one white — waited. The black person said he needed to retrieve a cell phone and left, gently bumping the white person’s leg on the way out. The white actor then did one of three things: Nothing. Said, “I hate when black people do that.” Or used the N-word.
Half the participants just read about that scene, and half actually experienced it.
Those asked to predict their reaction to either comment said they’d be highly upset and wouldn’t choose the white actor as their partner.
Not bothered by racism?
Yet students who actually experienced the event didn’t seem bothered by it — and nearly two-thirds chose the white actor as a partner, the researchers report Friday in the journal Science.
“It’s like these nasty racist comments aren’t having an effect,” said York University psychology professor Kerry Kawakami, the lead author.
“It’s important to remind people that just because a black man has been elected as president doesn’t mean racism is no longer a problem or issue in the States,” she added.
The study can’t say why people reacted that way, although the researchers speculate that unconscious bias is at work. They have new experiments under way to see if maybe these witnesses suppress that they’re upset to avoid confrontation.
“The failure of people to confront or do anything about racist comments is pretty widespread in the real world,” said Indiana University psychologist Eliot R. Smith, who co-wrote a review of the experiment. “People may feel uncomfortable if someone makes a remark like this, but it’s rare they will actually confront them.”
Ann
Exactly! Just because we have a biracial president doesn’t mean racism magically goes away. It could get worse, especially when things get tough during President Obama’s presidency. Already, we have several police shootings at unarmed Blacks, the mayor in PA had to resign because of hate, etc.
The election of President Obama doesn’t change the hearts of nonblacks at all.
Stephanie B.