Study: You may be more racist than you think

[AGDee]

Your data suggests a strong automatic preference for Black people over White people

Your data suggests a strong automatic preference for Barack Obama over John McCain

I took one on mothers and fathers also. I think, in my case, learning was involved. Let me try to explain...
The first block was associating Obama with good words (easy to do since I did have a bias there). Obama and good words were "K", McCain and bad words were "D". After the first block, I always found myself wanting to press "K" for good words whether I was supposed to or not. I didn't have this same difficulty with images. I had the same "learning" problem with the one about mothers and fathers but that was all words. I slowed down considerably when the pairings were reversed. I think my bias would have come out toward whichever block appeared first. Of course, I can't prove that, but that's how I felt while I was doing it.

You have completed the African American - European American IAT.
Your Result
Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between European American and African American.

[DaemonSeid]

I debated starting another thread but this fits perfectly right here.

On The Chris Matthews show they are discussing an article in The Atlantic.

Here is an excerpt and the link.

Whether you describe it as the dawning of a post-racial age or just the end of white America, we’re approaching a profound demographic tipping point. According to an August 2008 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, those groups currently categorized as racial minorities—blacks and Hispanics, East Asians and South Asians—will account for a majority of the U.S. population by the year 2042. Among Americans under the age of 18, this shift is projected to take place in 2023, which means that every child born in the United States from here on out will belong to the first post-white generation.

Obviously, steadily ascending rates of interracial marriage complicate this picture, pointing toward what Michael Lind has described as the “beiging” of America. And it’s possible that “beige Americans” will self-identify as “white” in sufficient numbers to push the tipping point further into the future than the Census Bureau projects. But even if they do, whiteness will be a label adopted out of convenience and even indifference, rather than aspiration and necessity. For an earlier generation of minorities and immigrants, to be recognized as a “white American,” whether you were an Italian or a Pole or a Hungarian, was to enter the mainstream of American life; to be recognized as something else, as the Thind case suggests, was to be permanently excluded. As Bill Imada, head of the IW Group, a prominent Asian American communications and marketing company, puts it: “I think in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, [for] anyone who immigrated, the aspiration was to blend in and be as American as possible so that white America wouldn’t be intimidated by them. They wanted to imitate white America as much as possible: learn English, go to church, go to the same schools.”

Today, the picture is far more complex. To take the most obvious example, whiteness is no longer a precondition for entry into the highest levels of public office. The son of Indian immigrants doesn’t have to become “white” in order to be elected governor of Louisiana. A half-Kenyan, half-Kansan politician can self-identify as black and be elected president of the United States.


http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/end-of-whiteness

Your Thoughts?

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

To take the most obvious example, whiteness is no longer a precondition for entry into the highest levels of public office. The son of Indian immigrants doesn’t have to become “white” in order to be elected governor of Louisiana. A half-Kenyan, half-Kansan politician can self-identify as black and be elected president of the United States.


http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/end-of-whiteness

Your Thoughts?

That's only true to some extent...it still takes a level of "whiteness," or possibly just being fully assimilated into mainstream culture, to be elected to high office. Bobby Jindal may be the son of Indian immigrants who was elected LA governor--but he converted to Catholicism, has an impeccable education, and uses the name "Bobby" instead of "Piyush." All of these things make him more attractive to Mainstream America than if he was still a Hindu who called himself Piyush; if he had a discernable Indian accent instead of the vaguely Southern accent that he has.

The same holds true with Obama--sure, he's got a very "ethnic" name, but the fact that he doesn't carry himself with the same manner as say a Sharpton or Jackson makes him far more acceptable--not just to whites, but to all people who are uncomfortable with the afore-mentioned men. Add to that his education level and the fact that he's half-white, and you have someone who's clearly pretty electable.

The successes of Jindal and Obama, as well as David Paterson and others, does not indicate that the concept of "whiteness" is becoming obsolete in American politics. Instead, it seems that members of minority groups are possibly entering politics more "assimilated" to the mainstream culture than their predecessors, or people of color running for lower offices.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

That's only true to some extent...it still takes a level of "whiteness," or possibly just being fully assimilated into mainstream culture, to be elected to high office. Bobby Jindal may be the son of Indian immigrants who was elected LA governor--but he converted to Catholicism, has an impeccable education, and uses the name "Bobby" instead of "Piyush." All of these things make him more attractive to Mainstream America than if he was still a Hindu who called himself Piyush; if he had a discernable Indian accent instead of the vaguely Southern accent that he has.

The same holds true with Obama--sure, he's got a very "ethnic" name, but the fact that he doesn't carry himself with the same manner as say a Sharpton or Jackson makes him far more acceptable--not just to whites, but to all people who are uncomfortable with the afore-mentioned men. Add to that his education level and the fact that he's half-white, and you have someone who's clearly pretty electable.

The successes of Jindal and Obama, as well as David Paterson and others, does not indicate that the concept of "whiteness" is becoming obsolete in American politics. Instead, it seems that members of minority groups are possibly entering politics more "assimilated" to the mainstream culture than their predecessors, or people of color running for lower offices.

I think it's also a matter of class status, as you kinda alluded to. Money matters to Americans, bottom line. Money can even compensate for many "negatives" when a person is striving for a traditionally white occupation.

And, even though this country is becoming "post-white" or whatever, who really controls the majority of the wealth among us? Obama mentioned the issue of wealth distribution often during his campaign.