TJP
THE JETHRO PROJECT
O R G A N I Z I N G F O R E F F I C I E N T O U T P U T
- The Ignorance of Racism
- By Byron A. Ellis-September 21, 2008
Democrats, such as Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a Hillary supporter who was a Democratic Platform Committee Member has endorsed John McCain. Her excuse is that she thinks Obama is “an elitist.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the insanely rich Rothschild could have spared herself the ridicule if she hadn’t said that Obama is an elitist. They noted that she could have used a number of meaningful differences between Obama and McCain to explain her move to McCain.
The American Heritage College Dictionary defines elitism as “the belief that certain persons or members of certain groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority.” Thus, labeling Obama as elitist is a red herring used to camouflage personal biases.
It would be ironic and irrational if racial ignorance leads to a third consecutive Republican governance, but it is not improbable. Reason and rationality did not prevail in the 2004 election and may not prevail in the 2008. However, choices have consequences and the consequences of a third Republican governance are likely to be a continuance of failed Republican policies.
Given the projected changing demographics, it is foolish to hold on to racial biases that could potentially fragment the nation. Rather than focusing on irrational racial biases, voters should focus on the effectiveness of the candidates’ policies to solve the lingering economic and social problems.
Americans have seen the enormous stress that a war prone administration has placed on the country. The result is economic chaos at home and abroad. Every American citizen, and even citizens abroad, has been adversely affected by the economic chaos.
Thus, voters’ choices have consequences and to reject a given choice because of gender, race or ethnicity of the messenger is irrational and not Christ-like.
A recent AP-Yahoo news poll confirmed what many already knew, that some whites harbor negative views towards blacks. And, although the poll did not measure white sentiment towards other ethnicities, it is likely that the result would have been the same.
What is it in human nature that leads to racial bias? Robert Livingston of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Brian Drwecki of the University of Wisconsin in a study examined white college students who harbored either some or no racial biases; they found that only seven percent did not hold racial biases. In their study, their subjects completed a task that paired unfamiliar Chinese characters with pictures that evoked positive or negative emotions. Livingston and Drwecki wanted to know if unfamiliar Chinese characters would evoke emotions by being paired with pictures that evoked these emotions. That is, if people would like the characters that were paired with good pictures and dislike those linked to bad images.
The results of their study suggest that individual prejudices are linked to their cognitive propensity to resist negative affective conditioning. Thus, prejudice may be embedded peoples’ cognition and reducing it requires a transformative power.
Perhaps that is why we are told succinctly in Matt. 22:36-37 (NIV) that the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
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