Rachel Lenihan – Philosophical Issues in Race and Racism

Take this Racism Test…

Until we better understand how to actually reduce innate bias, the best we can do is try to ensure our prejudices affect our decisions as little as possible, Greenwald says. For instance, he says, “blind auditions for musicians can work really well.” And taking the names off resumes can help ensure that hiring managers don’t choose candidates based on gender or race.

“Until our culture changes to the point where we don’t have these negative ideas about certain groups,” Greenwald says, “it may be that our implicit biases are probably here to stay.”

Take this test to see how racist or homophobic you might be. This article addresses the ways in which some of us are more racist then we might think. By uncovering these biases, scientists have looked for ways to minimize our biases as a means to help end or aid in the end of racism. So far tackling the problem while we are sleeping seems to be the most helpful.

TED: Skin Color is an Illusion

The author and speaker in this TED talk, “Nina Jablonski says that differing skin colors are simply our bodies’ adaptation to varied climates and levels of UV exposure. Charles Darwin disagreed with this theory, but she explains, that’s because he did not have access to NASA.”

http://https://www.ted.com/talks/nina_jablonski_breaks_the_illusion_of_skin_color Video Link

TED: Can a black man talk about white culture?

Link to TED article

African American writer Rich Benjamin spent two years living in — and writing about — America’s whitest neighborhoods. The response to his book (and TED Talk) was honest, raw — and sometimes misunderstood his purpose. Here, he responds to the response.

Some quotes to think about:

“From Daniel Patrick Moynihan to Jonathan Kozol, there’s a wealth of literature by white experts trying to explain “the ghetto” to America. I had simply done the reverse. As a black thinker and writer, I interpret and explain mainstream white America back to itself.”

“I saw a culture driven by conscious and unconscious bias; I learned that a country can have racism without racists”.

“Many Americans dismiss racial integration as a form of “social engineering,” the opposite also holds true: Segregation is a form of social engineering”.