Sad repercussions of racism

[BC_chick]

A friend of mine just sent me this video.

http://www.komotv.com/home/video/5001856.h...deo=YHI&t=a

[kimmy]

I tried to watch it, but it wouldn't load. All I could get was an ad for fireplaces. (They did look cozy and warm, mind you.) Can you summarize the video?

-k

[August1991]

The video shows an experiment done a year or so ago duplicating an experiment done over 50 years ago by Kenneth Clarke. Clarke became a witness in the US Supreme Court ruling (Brown vs. Board of Education) against segregation in schools. Here's a quote of his testimony:

I made these tests on Thursday and Friday of this past week at your request, and I presented it to children in the Scott's Branch Elementary school, concentrating particularly on the elementary group. I used these methods which I told you about--the Negro and White dolls--which were identical in every respect save skin color. And, I presented them with a sheet of paper on which there were these drawings of dolls, and I asked them to show me the doll--May I read from these notes? JUDGE WARING: You may refresh your recollection. THE WITNESS: Thank you. I presented these dolls to them and I asked them the following questions in the following order: "Show me the doll that you like best or that you'd like to play with," "Show me the doll that is the 'nice' doll," "Show me the doll that looks 'bad'," and then the following questions also: "Give me the doll that looks like a white child," "Give me the doll that looks like a colored child," "Give me the doll that looks like a Negro child," and "Give me the doll that looks like you." By Mr. Carter: Q. "Like you?" A. "Like you." That was the final question, and you can see why. I wanted to get the child's free expression of his opinions and feelings before I had him identified with one of these two dolls. I found that of the children between the ages of six and nine whom I tested, which were a total of sixteen in number, that ten of those children chose the white doll as their preference; the doll which they liked best. Ten of them also considered the white doll a "Nice" doll. And, I think you have to keep in mind that these two dolls are absolutely identical in every respect except skin color. Eleven of these sixteen children chose the brown doll as the doll which looked "bad." This is consistent with previous results which we have obtained testing over three hundred children, and we interpret it to mean that the Negro child accepts as early as six, seven or eight the negative stereotypes about his own group. . . .

Link

Kiri Davis did the same test with 21 black children in New York and 15 chose the white doll over the black doll.

One can quibble about the statistics involved in Kiri Davis recent test. (Clarke conducted numerous tests over several years.) Nevertheless, the basic result remains and I suspect other tests will confirm something similar.

My two cents - one minor, the other major.

The minor point first: In the 1940s, Clarke used terms such as "colored" and "negro". Davis used terms such as "black", "African-American" and "self-esteem". Changing words doesn't really change anything. A rose by any other name would still smell sweet. Too often the Left has tried to change reality by changing the words we use to describe reality. This is sometimes called "framing an issue". Reality exists. Word describe it. We can no more change reality by using different words than change the moon's movements by looking at it upside down.

The second, major point: We cannot legislate morality. People will obey the law but we are deluded if we think that people will necessarily change their opinions. It is wasted effort to use the law to change people's beliefs. Social engineering is a waste of time.

I tried to watch it, but it wouldn't load. All I could get was an ad for fireplaces. (They did look cozy and warm, mind you.) Can you summarize the video?

You can watch the original 7 min doc here.

[Charles Anthony]

CAVEAT: I realize that it would be necessary to sift through every single study and verify the technical details about how every single trial was conducted. I am not going to do that. I am just looking at that last video.

First, the person asking the questions was clearly sitting in front of each contestant-child. Thus, the responses of the child do not represent "answering to the questions" but rather "feeding the adult" more accurately represents what the child was doing.

I would prefer that these "tests" presented each contestant-child with more than just two dolls (example: 5 black dolls, 5 white dolls) and then be asked to divide the entire group into "good" or "bad" piles of dolls.

I say this because of how I personally observe children answer questions posed to them by adults:

1) children mean to impress and seek recognition from adults -- the right answers are secondary

2) like everybody else, children use trial and error until they get a cue from the adult which suggests that they succeeded

Thus, if I ask a child which way to the candy-store and the child points to the left, unless I say: "Excellent!" or "No." the very act of asking a second question can be interpreted by the child as the following response: "Hmm... I do not think so.... maybe I should choose the other one..." and the child does not even think of the meaning of the second question. Children quickly learn that adults are NOT honest and adults troll or fish for information indirectly. Ever ask a child "Hi! How are you doing?" only to have the child purse his lips and look to his parent before responding??? That is how some children behave. Children seek approval first and foremost.

If the child only has two dolls in front of him, it is not surprising for the child to pick up the second doll on a follow-up question.

Second, there are a few examples in the video where children selected the black dolls. That might suggest that questions were unbiased. It is hard to say.

Third, the testimony of the young girls was disheartening. I can not imagine what it would be like to have a mother lather me at the age of 6 years with skin-bleaching cream. As a kid, we swam competitively so we constantly smelled like chlorine but I do not think that counts. The social implications were probably not the same.

[margrace]

I presume Anthony is a man. If anyone watched Oprah's show on violence against women, the people were all black, there were two groups and it was very obvious that when people talk about such things men have no clue what the women are talking about.

As with racism, white people just don't get it.

[Charles Anthony]

The secret is out!

Now, try to guess the color of my skin or my favorite television show.

[Parrot]

I would also question the methodology of this test. I noticed in most of the cases shown the white doll was on the child's left. In a couple of cases it was on the right. I wonder if that was just by accident or not. To get the most accurate results, it would be best to re-arrange the dolls for half of the children. Studies show that when given an option even between 2 identical choices we're likely to choose solely based on the object's configuration.

So if she didn't do that, that's a natural confounding factor.

It also seems to me that the sample size used is quite small. I'm not sure that such a small sample size can be held to be indicative of general social trends.

But even so the results are interesting. Perhaps it signifies the need for further research into this area.