Page 171 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation
P. 171
From Old - Fashioned Racism to Modern Racism 145
attempt or pretend not to notice differences. In other words, racism is least
likely to emerge in situations where behaviors would appear prejudicial
to others. This statement is also related to situational ambiguity, but the
dynamics are broader. One particular study presented participants with
records of Black and White students and told White participants to rate
them for admission. The two criteria they looked at were grade - point aver-
age (GPA) and SAT scores. When both criteria were equally high or equally
low for Black and White participants, they were rated equally. However,
when presented with candidates that had either high GPA/low SAT or
high SAT/low GPA, Whites selected the White candidate more often. White
participants would often favor the White candidate by shifting the impor-
tance of the criteria they used for their ratings. A Black person with high
GPA and low SAT, for example, would be denied because SAT scores were
more important. However, if Blacks had high SAT, but low GPA, the raters
would also decide against the Black candidate, in this instance because
“ GPA was more important ” ! In other words, the definition of the “ most
qualified candidate ” shifted depending on the race of the candidate.
In summary, it is clear that the modern forms of racism operate in such a
manner as to preserve the nonprejudiced self - image of Whites by offering them
convenient rationalizations for their actions; they are prevented from recog-
nizing their own racial biases or the implicit prejudicial attitudes they harbor
toward others. Such a form of self - deception is reinforced by several continu-
ing and problematic beliefs: (a) racism is a sickness and does not exist in good
and decent human beings, (b) racism is only associated with dramatic and
overt hate crimes, and (c) good citizens do not engage in such heinous acts.
Racism as Only a Sickness
It goes without saying that many people perceive White supremacists, Ku
Klux Klan members, or Skinheads as suffering from some defect of charac-
ter, pathology, or even mental disorder. Who could argue, for example, that
John William King and his two accomplices, who killed African American
James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, were not depraved murderers? Recall that these
men chained Byrd to the back of a pick - up truck and dragged him for miles
until his body was shredded and he was decapitated. The actions of these men
were certainly those of “ sick minds. ” In fact, some have argued that racism
should be classified in the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual (American Psychological Association, 2000) as a mental
1/19/10 6:11:42 PM
c07.indd 145
c07.indd 145 1/19/10 6:11:42 PM