Blair more American than Obama?
The New York Times has an interesting article, brought on by the possible election of Barack Obama as US President.
According to the article, written by Nicholas D Kristoff, studies have shown that humans have an ingrained prejudice even if it goes against our better nature.
Participants in the studies were given the implicit association test to examine their reaction to people with different skin colours and ethnicities. A similar test can be found here. The study concluded that even the former UK Prime Minister was seen as more American than Obama, when they were asked to make judgements based on skin colour.
A quote from the article:
“Some scholars link racial attitudes to a benefit in evolutionary times from an ability to form snap judgments about who is a likely friend and foe. There may have been an evolutionary advantage in recognizing instantaneously whether a stranger was from one’s own tribe or from an enemy tribe. There’s some evidence that the amygdala, a center in the brain for emotions, flashes a threat warning when it perceives people who look “different.”
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It’s easy to look at the US and see prejudice against minorities and then act smug, because we already had three black presidents in our country.
Even after 14 years of having a black majority government, we still see both horrible acts of racism played out against black people. Black sports people still have to far exceed their white team mates to be even seen as equal. Companies still have a smattering of black managers and directors and educated black people still have to prove themselves over and over again.
So Americans, even if you elect Barack Obama as president and even if his entire cabinet is black, it will still be business as usual.
