willful and not-so-willful ignorance

[novapsyche]

3 in 10 Americans admit to racial bias | comments attached to article

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I ended up going to the party (I wanted to promote my poetry, but I never ended up doing so, although I did show my chapbook to J., the host).

T., a gentleman in his 50s, took an immediate interest in me, and we got to talking about various things. However, he kept bringing up assumptions. For example, when I told him I grew up in Belleville, he asked if my father had worked in the auto factories. T. let it be known that he grew up on the south side of Chicago (I immediately thought of that clip I just talked about this week).

When we were downstairs listening to music (something contemporary was on), he went out of his way to get J. to change the music to James Brown. The three of us were talking, so at one point I asked them this question (with the caveat that I didn't mean anything bad about this, I just wanted to ask the question):

Why is it, when a black person is involved in a conversation in a majority of white people, that certain white people will mention a black person of status?

I went on to say that this was a phenomenon that may be more prevalent now since Barack Obama has won the Democratic ticket. Yet, I'd seen this behavior often for the last two years. (T. said, "Two?" and I nodded.)

Then they both said that they liked the music of the 70s, and I said I love jazz and funk music, too. It was a synthesis of sound. J. said, "Well, I could talk about the Beatles." (I didn't mention at that point that the Beatles themselves had acknowledged that they had taken the style of black music of that era and sold it back to middle-class Americans.) I brought up the fact that I'd dated someone from Iowa who sincerely felt that funk music was a joke. Where he had come from, it was something to ridicule.

T. said that he really liked Stevie Wonder. Then he said, "It's not like he's a Mozart," and then chastised himself for saying what he did.

For the rest of the night, J. kept asking me about George Washington Carver, Prince, Marcus Garvey, just for kicks. (I truly hope he doesn't keep up that joke. If he does, I will have to find out how to get him back.)

It is something I've noticed lately, though. I spoke about this with yellowmouser to some extent. Once, when we were at Tios, people were talking about tennis, and someone really had to reach to include Venus and Serena Williams. We were talking about a completely different era of tennis (Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf).

I don't know how to address those situations, where there are people who seem to want to "include" me (or other non-majority persons) in the conversation. They perhaps are well-intentioned. But really it is another way that their racism is showing.

I think the only way to address it is to use the pointed question, as I did last night.

Comments

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Well, there are stereotypes, prejudices, and biases. I would say that people tend to be biased towards people who are like themselves. A person may or may not have prejudices about people who are not like hirself.

Bias can go either toward or against things. Prejudice is almost always against something. Bias and prejudice, while they have similar roots, mean very different things. You can have a double-blind study to reduce bias in an experiment, but even the question that leads to the null hypothesis comes from bias. Bias you cannot completely get rid of, although you may mitigate it.

Prejudice is another thing altogether. Many people are prejudiced against garter snakes, because they were taught that all snakes are dangerous. When you explain to the person in question that garter snakes have neither poison nor constricting muscles, that may completely eliminate the prejudice.

The people who ask you for cigarettes are stereotyping you. Long hair (on men) in our society is seen as anti-establishment. Your long hair may often be seen as a signal (or a symbol) to others.

And O.J. as the default spouse killer? Why not any of the other huge contemporary cases (Peterson) we've had in the last decade? Or, the ultimate American criminal that caused uproar in this country, Lizzie Borden?

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Err, scratch that. Peterson was caught (however, he too was a spouse murderer). Borden didn't kill a spouse.

Phil Hartman was murdered by his spouse (although that was a murder-suicide).

The O.J. trial should be classified under "famous people who escaped criminal penalty despite much evidence to the contrary". There are many more in that category.

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

I think his case was burned into memory by association. Sarah and I were on our great Western adventure. We were tent camping and staying with relatives in Kansas, and New Mexico. I still remember seeing O.J.'s Bronco on the news at a bar we went to with my brother in Kansas. We had no clue what was going on at the time.