Skin color mixed with religious practice can be a perfectly lethal cocktail for some people. Dr. Jennifer Richeson at Northwestern University is acutally studying manifestations of racial bias in mind, brain and behavior. For example, Richeson's tests indicate that everyone has measurable, often unconscious, preferences for some people over others. Indeed, a computer-based procedure called the Implicit Association Test, or IAT, measures the fraction-of-a-second differences in how quickly people even associate certain stereotypically Caucasian names (such as "Chip") with positive words like "heaven" versus how quickly they associate other names (such as "Jamaal") with the same words. You can guess which one gets the faster response. However, while much of this research seems to show that the responses are subconscious, the comments below seem to indicate a higher level of awarenss of perception, but this could only be given the additional time alloted to reflect. Either way, race continues to be a hot-button in our country and one which we must continue to examine. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.
