"Everyone's A Little Bit Racist"

A touchy subject I know, but I think it's important to discuss. I don't want to down play it, we all know America has a long and trouble history with race. However, since I saw the musical Avenue Q, I've been considering the benefits of talking about our prejudices. It's well known that it's harder to tell people from unfamiliar races apart. There's even evidence that the more true you find racial prejudices, the funnier those types of jokes are to you. I'll paraphrase my favorite line from the musical: If we all could just admit that we are racist a little bit, it might help us get along.

So I found a test online from Harvard University that measures whether you unconsciously prefer white people over black. I am not a racist, but I do apparently have a slight preference for white people (based on this very simple test). It's good to know. Hopefully I can use this overcome emotion with reason. I hope you get a chance to take the test. Click here, then "demonstration", then "go to demonstration tests", then "I wish to proceed". It's the one labeled Race Implicit Association Test (IAT).