Prometheus 6

We're all racists, unconsciously
Kramer just blurted out what unfortunately comes naturally to all of us.
By Michael Shermer, MICHAEL SHERMER is the publisher of Skeptic magazine and a monthly columnist for Scientific American. His latest book is "Why Darwin Matters."
November 24, 2006

AFTER A PAROXYSM of racial viciousness at the Laugh Factory last week, Michael Richards, the 57-year-old comedian who played Kramer on "Seinfeld," explained to David Letterman and his "Late Night" audience Monday: "I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this."

Richards' shattered demeanor and heartfelt repentance leaves us with what I shall call Kramer's Conundrum: How can someone who spews racial epithets genuinely believe he is not a racist? The answer is to be found in the difference between our conscious and unconscious attitudes and our public and private thoughts.

Consciously and publicly, Richards is probably not a racist. But unconsciously and privately, he is. So am I. So are you.

Mr. Shermer goes on to discuss the Implicit Association Test technique.

I consider myself about as socially liberal as you can get, and yet on a scale that includes "slight," "moderate" and "strong," the program concluded: "Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for European American compared to African American." What? "The interpretation is described as 'automatic preference for European American' if you responded faster when European American faces and Good words were classified with the same key than when African American faces and Good words were classified with the same key."

But I'm not a racist. How can this be? It turns out that this subconscious association of good with European Americans is true for everyone, even African Americans, no matter how colorblind we all claim to be.

You know, if everything is racist, then nothing is. Rhetorically speaking. I'm quite prepared to limit 'racism' to foul explosions and systemic hostility because I'm not motivated by racism.