African Americans perceive racism because they know more about racial history than European Americans, study says

Perception is a shaky thing.

One person sees a burning sun that hurts the eyes, causes uncomfortable heat and emits dangerous solar flares. Another sees a catalyst for photosynthesis, a source of warmth that makes the planet inhabitable and an excuse to go to the beach. 

So go perceptions of racism. European Americans accustomed to being the cultural majority may not grasp systemic subtleties of racism. Moreover, according to a 2013 study by psychological scientists at the University of Kansas and Texas A & M Universities, African-Americans and other minorities are typically more knowledgeable of U.S. racial history than their European American counterparts.

According to the Science Daily article, "Claims of post-racial society and other denials of racism may reflect ignorance of history, the study "indicates that African Americans had more accurate knowledge of historically documented racism compared to European Americans. This difference in historical knowledge partially accounted for group differences in perceptions of racism, both at a systemic and an incident-specific level."

Of course black folk already knew that. 

It's hard to argue with ignorance. And that's a problem when minorities see history repeating itself while the majority blithely dismiss them as being "touchy," the researchers explained to Science Daily. "... these perceptions of racism are often treated as exaggerated and delusional. But theory and research from cultural psychology suggests that differences in how people perceive racism may arise because individuals from minority groups are actually attuned to knowledge that individuals form the majority group lack. Individuals form the majority group may deny past racism in the context of current events becaus tehy are ignorant about documented racism from the past.

So when African Americans get a little crazy around "stand your ground" and voting laws and Latino Americans bristle at laws targeting illegal immigration, it's because they've seen this many times before. But, evidently most European Americans don't know that.

How'd they figure that out?

Science Daily reports researchers gave 199 European American and 74 African American college students a "Black History" test. Students had to decide if statements pertaining to documented cases of past racism were true or not. Some were true and others were "plausible but fabricated" fiction. 

As predicted, African Americans typically identified more accurate statements of documented historical racism than their European American counterparts. 

Moreover, the test included statements to determine how ethnically self-conscious each participant was. In other words, African American students whose self-images were defined by their racial identity tended to perceive more racism. On the contrary, European American students who were equally strong in their racial identity perceived less racism. Like a negative image developing in a darkroom, it's a study in contrasts.

So now what?

There's no easy answer. But, there's an argument in favor of rethinking what kind of history is being taught in schools. 

I do believe one thing. Selective historical ignorance is an old ploy. It's probably the reason Hitler got away with theories of Arian racial supremacy. The lure of racial superiority was too irresistible to an impovershed people bitter from defeat during WWI and ravaged as a result of the Treaty of Versaille. Their collective self-esteem was crushed. Without accurate information discounting Hitler's claims, it was easy for them to accept a megalomaniac's fabrications. And we all know what happened next.

The recession of 2008 and its aftermath coupled with President Barack Obama's election revealed a subtle similar pattern. Old racists verbal codes, legislative shenanigans and not-so-subtle acts of economic and systemic racism have returned with a vengeance.

The only way to combat the new rising tide of overt racism is to be well-armed with documented and indisputable facts. This study is one of them.

The March on Washington Message

My musings after 50 years

I was two years-old and in a stroller when my parents took me to the original March on Washington. I often wish I was old enough to grasp the enormity and gravity of the event. I wish I could have absorbed the magnitude of the sea of America's diverse races converging as equals before the Lincoln Memorial. I wish I could have fully enjoyed Mahalia Jackson's voice boom over the reflection pool and ricochet off the Washington Monument. Most of all, I wish I could have watched Martin Luther King's face change, as observers recall, when he went off-script and spoke the piercing words God gave him that day. 

I was 23 when I walked down the mall during the March's 20th anniversary. The solemnity of the original march gave way to hordes of groups representing their interests. Hari Krishna's danced. African dance troops performed. Gay Pride groups plugged their platform. And, this time, I was old enough to understand the March's original message had been co-opted. 

Edith Lee Payne

At it's heart, the civil rights movement was a call to conscience. In a nation where one group of people had decided that another group of people weren't human, the civil rights movement put that belief on trial. 

While the March's statement was profound at its time, it's become almost cliched now. It's lost its depth. It's no longer fresh. Yet, we desperately need the message now more than ever. Fifty years later, we're amid a brutal civil war in Syria, senseless murders by children and Nazi-sounding rhetoric passing for social conservatism among a host of other assaults on humanity. It's time we hear the message with new ears. 

50th anniversary March, 3 days ago

God made mankind in His image and equally human. That means we have no spiritual license to demand someone else reflect our image. Under God's order, we're supposed to honor another person's humanity whether we agree with them or not.  Anytime we decide someone else's life is worth less than our own -- whether they're of a different race, class, culture or religion -- we play God. 

Sadly, if we're all honest with ourselves, we'll see we've all been guilty of it in the secret conversations of our hearts. So, it's a work in progress because it's a work of the heart and hearts are stubborn. I guess that's why I'm always working on my own heart (according to the Myers-Briggs Personality Type, I'm an INTJ, and true to my "type," I tend to ponder such things). 

Fifty years later, I've peeled away the paint hoping to discover the original message of the March. And I see a call for us to accept other people who live on this planet because God put us all here at this time in history for His purposes and not ours. He never invited us to comment. We're on a need-to-know, read-in-only basis. Just as it should be.  

On Trayvon Martin

Are we reactionary or pro-active?  

By Cathy Cross Hawley

So why did the Trayvon Martin verdict surprise so many people?  When you sit back and think about it, have things really changed or are things the same and just camouflaged under different names?  Do we realize how things add up? 

George Zimmerman’s step-dad is a retired judge.  Hello? Do you think for one minute favors weren’t called in. If George Zimmerman was part of a “Neighborhood Watch” than how come he took matters in to his own hands and decided to do more than watch. Wasn’t George the aggressor in this instance? Didn’t he get out of his vehicle and pursue Trayvon?

You had a jury made of five white females and one other, who I assume was African-American and/or Latino. This wasn’t a balanced jury. 

African-Americans missed the opportunity

We should have hit the pavement during jury selection and called for a racially balanced jury.  Long before this horrific incident, we should have called for a repeal of the “Stand Your Ground” law.  If  Zimmerman was dead and Trayvon said he was the neighborhood watch who stood his ground, do you really think Trayvon would have been acquitted of charges?  
 

I can tell you, no. He would have been found guilty of all charges. So really nothing has changed. Racism is alive and well and goes by the name of “Stand Your Ground.”  Trayvon, Rest in Peace and, at some point in time, George Zimmerman must meet his maker and answer to all his mis-doings.