Are you a racist? I know I am. Behavior scientists have discovered that people have implicit bias that colors their reactions below the level of conscious awareness. This is what makes
me clutch my purse more tightly when I pass an other-race stranger on the sidewalk at night. I shouldn’t—my good friend Malik is of another race. But I react this way anyway. Of course, Malik is a friend, not a
stranger, but just the same …
It’s like a reflex how we initially react to strangers who don’t look like ourselves. Just as I’d move my finger away from a candle flame, I clutch my purse more tightly
near an other-race stranger. It may not be me, but it’s what I do. It’s the way my brain was designed. I like to think of myself as being in charge but the reality is there are many viewpoints in my brain and they
are constantly competing to express themselves, and occasionally a viewpoint wins the argument and acts without my even being aware of it.
Why? According to William Wan and Sarah Kaplan writing in the Washington Post, “’An us-them mentality is unfortunately a really basic part of our biology,’ said Eric Knowles, a psychology professor at New York University who studies prejudice
and politics. ’There’s a lot of evidence that people have an ingrained even evolved tendency toward people who are in our so-called 'in group.’
But how we define those groups, and the tendency to draw divisions along racial lines, is social, not biological, he added. ’We can draw those lines in a number of ways
that society tells us,’ he said.”
I learned in church to, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” That’s John 7:24. I’d like to think my judgement was righteous, but I know it isn’t always. But that’s not my fault. It’s the way I was wired.
But there’s still hope for me. I may always clutch my purse more tightly when I see an other-race stranger, but I can behave differently in situations where I know I’m safe.
So it’s really not so much about my being a racist—we all are—it’s about how I choose to act despite my racism. Spiritually I’m made in God’s image, but physically I have an animal nature.
I can use the free-will God gave me to challenge myself to be a better person instead of acting on the emotional animal impulses and viewpoints that compete for control of my behavior. That side is always there trying to convince
me to hate and fear those who don’t look the same, even though both God and science teach that there’s no difference between people. Sometimes it’s a struggle, but I want to do what’s right. Sometimes
the racist arguments are convincing, but they always fall apart when I look more closely.
