I don’t think folks change their intrinsic bias much, as adults. Case in point are 35 folks, plus me, who were today sent a story about two female shoppers who found a dead cat in an mall parking lot. They decided to put the cat in a spare shopping bag and put it on their car’s trunk lid….while they had lunch inside. Of course, some one took the bag. Amusing havoc ensues. In this story, “fat black woman in a red gingham shirt” grabbed the bag.
Fair enough, IF the two shoppers, or the cat for that matter, had been identified by race or color. Or physique. Or clothing. Nada.
As is my wont, I “Reply All” the following: “The two shoppers and the cat were not identified by race or color or girth. Just the thief. What’s up with that? How did that detail about the thief advance the story line?”
I can pretty much guarantee there will be no reply to my query. I will also be sent more such stories, by the same group of people. I’m related to half of them. My bias, learned and not in my DNA, is that they’d never admit to racism. I get proof regularly.