An article in the Washington Post today discusses why we’re racist (and yes, we’re racist). The upshot- humans tend to create in-groups, and appearance is definitely one category of in-group, and say scientists from Yale and NYU, it is only by directly addressing bias that we can combat such bias. In other words, not calling out racist bias reinforces it:
“You have to change what is acceptable in society. People today complain about politically correct culture, but what that does is provide a check on people’s outward attitude, which in turn influences how we think about ourselves internally. Everything we’re exposed to gives us messages about who is good and bad.”
Yale social psychologist Jennifer Richeson says we live in an implicitly racist culture- and only specific teaching to counteract it will create a less racist future, from Washington Post:
“People learn to be whatever their society and culture teaches them. We often assume that it takes parents actively teaching their kids, for them to be racist. The truth is that unless parents actively teach kids not to be racists, they will be,”
Eric Knowles, a psychology professor at New York University who studies prejudice and politics says that racism stems from “in-group” bias- and those groups can be defined in any number of ways by our society.
But to challenge the deep-seated prejudices that shape our behavior, to unlearn our implicit biases, “we need contact,” he said.
“It's absolutely the opposite of what white nationalists want, which is a segregated society,” he said. “We need an integrated society, and at the same time need to create as much socioeconomic fairness as we can, so what relationships people have across group lines are egalitarian relationships. … That’s the one thing that can create trust between people on each side of an us-them divide, and the only thing in the long term I would put my money on to reduce prejudices.”
And that is the Democratic Party Platform. Socioeconomic fairness. Integrated society. Contact with diverse groups. Egalitarianism. #2018