Are We Racist?: The bias test || STEVE HARVEY

well folks you know all our we're going to be exploring a major issue in this country is one that often is difficult to talk about as it is to overcome take a look race in America it's a conversation that's not going away in many ways we've made great strides towards equality but it seems no matter how far we've come congratulations mr. president we still have far to go headlines news reports and internet feeds flood our lives with stories of hate fuel incidents and tragedy the death of Trayvon Martin Eric garner Michael Brown has grabbed national attention but the topic of racism still makes many uncomfortable especially when it comes to our own personal biases stereotypes and judgments whether we like it or not this issue isn't a series of isolated events every individual plays a part every single one of us well I think it's time that we have an honest conversation about racism that many folks would like to believe that when it comes to race that they have no prejudice at all but there is a test that measures racial bias the implicit association test or IAT is respected as much now as it was when it was created 20 years ago now before the show we asked everybody in the audience to take the test before we see the results let's meet one of the creators of this test please welcome co-author of blind spot dr. Anthony Greenwald doc welcome to the show tell everybody what this test is all about this test measures something that we call automatic race preference a lot of people have an automatic preference for white because they've been brought up in a culture that is dominant white it's a test that can sometimes be influenced by the experiences we've had for example if you have a pleasant conversation with a black person just before you taking the test that's likely to produce a shift in the results so if you want to take this test and get a less strong white preference result have a pleasant conversation with a black person is not a test of racism it doesn't measure racism but it measures an automatic racial preference and it's something that can affect behavior so it's of interest and I hope we're going to be seeing more research on this ok let's check out how two audience fared in the test 62% of the audience has a strong to moderate implicit reference for whites over blacks but zero percent of the audience has an implicit preference for blacks over whites are you surprised by the results and what does it mean yeah I think this is a result that most are surprised by if you are white and you showed a result that indicated white preference it means you've picked up something that you're probably unaware that you've picked up but it's from a bias that is pervasive in our society now one third of African Americans taking this test show a white preference means they too have been exposed to this dominant white bias that exists in our culture I believe that to be true because you know african-americans are all minority in this country but television movies books everything is is predominantly white we've grown accustomed to living in this world as a minority so I can actually see that working out to be true but there is a silver lining in all of this the silver lining is in what we are learning about how race problems operate in America today in the past racism was an active open hostility against Blacks but now we know that there's this automatic preference that most people are not aware that they have and we are gradually learning what we can do to control this in this country now I got some people in the audience who want to weigh in or where's Cole okay go ahead what would you like to say well honestly Steve I'm not surprised by the test and how it went we hear this thing in the country about white privilege I've witnessed it and seen it happen I have been working at a restaurant and I went up to a family of four grabbed their plates off the table when they were finished and they were very respectful very highly energized to talk to me and allowed me to take the plates off the table and less than five minutes one of my Hispanic co-workers went up to the table grabbed the plates off the table and I heard them shouting I heard them screaming and I heard them that they didn't want him to touch the plates off the table and he comes up to me and goes I couldn't take the rest of the plates off the table I couldn't do my job and I just had to stand there and I couldn't believe it I was ashamed and I think it's demeaning and if someone's trying to do their job then they should be able to thank you Oh where's Johnny okay I am surprised by the results okay now I'm a white guy very tan white guy but a white guy okay and the issue of white privilege is something that I don't frankly agree with okay my great-grandparents came here with absolutely nothing and when they got off the boat no one was there saying all right look more white people Oh let's help them know they worked and they worked and they worked and they built businesses and they passed that on to their kids and all the good things we've enjoyed in this country in our lives as a result of hard work and determination that's what it's about I can understand where you're coming from there is a misconception that because you're white you're privileged I agree that there are people who have come here who are non african-american who have worked themselves and scrapped and lived in the ghettos in New York and fought they were in own businesses I applaud that that's coming here and getting it done that's a two statement this is what I think a lot of people miss if I walk into a bank to get a loan versus you walking into the bank to get a loan and the person across the table who's providing the loan is prejudice well he gets to show me that immediately because I have a skin tone that allows that to come out you may not get that oh they won't even know what I am so yeah really cuz I didn't know either I was thinking this is great I felt really wonderful about it and after meeting you I still feel wonderful about it because I can get past people's moments that they have and I understand where you're coming from see I can I can get past that moment a lot of people can't because they hear that and in there ain't gonna get angry about it anymore I understand where it's coming from so I appreciate what you're saying you

Channel: Steve TV Show

Views: 921,105

Rating: 4.5812688 out of 5

Keywords: Steve, Harvey, funny, humor, comedy, tv, steve harvey, steve harvey daytime, steve harvey show, Talk Show (TV Genre), Racism (Quotation Subject), ANthony Greenwald, White People (Ethnicity), Blindspot

Id: UoJ4_KN6bJU

Length: 7min 49sec (469 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 18 2015