I am concerned about what will happen to our country after
the 2016 Presidential Election, not because of whom may be elected but because
of the passionate opinions of the voters. Never have I witnessed so many people
voting from hatred for the “other” candidate rather than supporting the nominee
who most represents their values. I am shocked by how vehemently people endorse
or oppose the candidates. Friendships and families are falling apart over differing
opinions. I have seen posts on social networking sites such as: “If you are
going to vote for “X” candidate, then unfriend me now. I cannot be friends with
someone who supports “X.” Whatever happened to respectfully disagreeing?
Whatever happened to appreciating the differing viewpoints that make our nation
diverse and distinctive? If we do not find a way to civilly discuss our
disagreements how can we hope to teach the succeeding generations how to work
through conflict and find resolution? How can we ever hope to “Make America
great again”?
Then there’s the “race” problem, and yes, this is a reality.
Too many people harbor implicit prejudices. If you don’t believe me, take the
Implicit Association Test (IAT) developed by Banaji and Greenwald (2013). You
can find the test by following this link: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
. Research has proven that suppressed
prejudices do occur in this country. Look at the case of Barak Obama when he
was running for president and the hoopla over his birth certificate. You see,
with suppressed prejudices, people justify their dislike for someone in the
target group by covering up the biases they carry with other “valid” excuses
because to be transparently prejudice is not socially acceptable. So, instead “he
wasn’t born in the US” or “he’s Muslim” became the banner argument. In all
reality the fact that he was a black man stirred emotional dissent in a lot of
people who subconsciously harbor prejudices. If you don’t believe me, read the
research that has been done for yourself.
And speaking of that, let’s take a look at police shootings.
The most fascinating research that has been conducted on police bias was
conducted by Correll, Park, Judd, and Wittenbrink (2002). Their experiment
involved participants viewing videos of men (half of them were white; the other half were black) who were in
realistic settings holding an item (half were holding nonthreatening items such
as cell phones; the other half were holding a handgun). The participants won or
lost points based on how they reacted. They gained 10 points for shooting
someone who did have a gun, and if they failed to shoot someone holding a gun,
they lost 40 points. They found that white participants were more likely to
shoot when the men in the videos were black, regardless of what they held in
their hands. This is disturbing!
Prejudices lie quietly below the surface until provoked and
then they can be fatal, as we have seen too many times this year. Why aren’t
police officers evaluated with an IAT test? If someone has implicit prejudices,
training can be conducted in order to help the individual overcome those
prejudices, which could very well lead to saving the life of another innocent
black man. However, I am afraid this problem has been at a boiling point for
far too long. Being black in this country is still a disadvantage in many
areas. And please do not argue this point! Research proves my statements. Unless
you can find peer reviewed, unbiased research that says otherwise, you are
merely stating an opinion. My declaration is not based on my personal viewpoint
but on hard evidence. I wish more than anything it were just an opinion! I have
believed for far too long that equality was the reality, because that is how I feel.
I have never judged a person on ethnicity, religion, or socioeconomic status.
Therefore, I believed that my reality could be generalized to society as a whole.
I was wrong.
We all should be praying for resolution and asking
ourselves, “What can I do to change my little part of the world?” For a start,
we can learn to cordially discuss our differences, come face to face with our
prejudices, and then start the healing process. Otherwise, we will be a nation
divided.
