April 25: Liveblog of America Healing

[Editor's Note: A chronological list of AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies classes at Tucson Unified School District is here.]

This will be my first attempt at liveblogging an event... Hoping the internet connection doesn't give me problems.

8:45 AM

Beautiful slide show of people who have gone on... started with a Navajo Code Talker. I hope the slide show is put online...  It include Eloise Cobell, too.

8:48 AM

Plenary session: "Unconscious Bias and Race" moderated by Maria Hinojosa of Latino USA. Panelists include Rachel Godsil, Director of Research at the American Values Institute; Phillip Goff, Assistant Professor, Dept of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles; john powell, Director of the Haas Center for Diversity and Inclusion and Robert D. Haas Chancellor's Chair in Equity and Inclusion, University of California, Berkeley; David Williams, Professor African and African American Studies, Harvard.

8:50 AM

MH: Not ready to heal right now, trying to understand all my anger, fear, and sadness. Conversation in Supreme Court today...  State of AZ saying it is ok to racially profile people with a law that says we can call a race and class "illegal." Dehumanizes a population.

Latino teens highest rate of suicide in the country. They are our future.

Introducing David Williams of Harvard.

8:53 AM

David Williams sharing research on differences in treatment of people of color in emergency rooms. "Hispanic ethnicity was the strongest predictor of no analgesia." Similar results found in research across the country. Explanation? Unconscious discrmination. Stereotypes undergird our behavior.
(Note: readers of AICL are familiar with these ideas. They are what I write about.)

8:58 AM

David Williams: Where do stereotypes come from? American culture. People aren't being mean, they're just reflecting what they learn from stereotypes in American culture. This guides behavior. References research studies that show that white person with criminal background will get a call-back for a job than a black person with criminal background.

Experiencing discrimination leads to health problems.

Internalized racism...  African Americans believe the stereotypes. Cites Jerome Taylor's research.

9:05 AM

Rachel Godsil is talking about murder of Trayvon and polling on whether or not Zimmerman should be arrested. First poll, 77% of whites said yes. Most recent poll, 58% whites say yes, while 85% of Blacks say yes.  Why the discrepancy? Polls of white indicate they think it is fine to marry someone who is not white... Godsil asks if Whites are hiding their real attitudes? The desire to believe they are fair means that we can stop seeing race. That we're to be a colorblind society. Godsil points out that idea is an illusion to people of color. Research shows NOT talking about race allows negative stereotypes to grow and affect behavior.

9:21 AM

Just learned that the power point presentations may be available on a thumb drive in the registration packet. I hope so! There's so much information on the slides that I'd like to share.

9:23: Phillip Goff. Presentation is "Identity Traps: The Shape of Contemporary Discrimination Through the Lens of Law Enforcement."

Powell starts out with slide of stereotypes that Whites hold about Blacks. Some change in the stereotypes people hold, but the quality of life getting worse.

Bigotry is not the whole story. Attitudes only predict 10% of behavior. What about the 90%? Introduces phrase "identity traps" which are tendencies of the human mind to take shortcuts.

Fast traps are automatic, uncontrolled, hard to prevent. "Not thinking" brings out implicit bias.

Slow traps are conscious, self-directed, ruminative, negotiated over time.

9:34 AM

I WISH STEPHANIE FRYBERG WAS ON THIS PANEL....  IRONICALLY, WE (AMERICAN INDIANS) ARE INVISIBLE IN THIS PANEL ON BIAS AND RACE.

9:46 AM

john powell walking the audience through several tests of perception, what we tune into, what we are primed to tune into...