Nation of Cowards

This afternoon I was reading Howard Blow’s fascinating Op Ed at the NY Times in response to Attorney General Eric Holder’s controversial “nation of cowards” comment.

As Blow said, as several other black commentators have said perhaps the words were too confrontational. Among the talking heads of the right this has been easy pickings, allowing the conversation to bubble into a froth of indignation…

The problem as Blow and other black intellectual commentators have said, is that while not skillfully presented, there is also the underlying truth of white reticence to engage the conversation hanging there, painfully obvious…

So, what to do?

Through a link at Blow’s Op Ed I found myself at the Project Implicit tests site taking the African American – European American preference test. I actually felt my breath catch as I pushed the buttons to take the implicit bias race test, fearing what it might reveal, as it claimed to be able to determine unconscious bias. True or not the site is maintained by Harvard, the University of Washington & the University of Virginia, and so carries some heavy psychic mojo, at least for me.

In the pre-screening I tried to be hyper honest and said in response to a prompt I thought I had a slight preference for European Americans. I’m achingly aware of who I keep company with and how the number of African Americans is small.

I was frankly relieved, and ever so slightly surprised that the test reported “little to no automatic preference between European American and African American” faces.

Of course that’s a pretty small test of bias…

Still, if you’re thinking about the question, if you are challenged by the nation of cowards assertion and you want an honest look into your biases, perhaps, in the privacy of your own home you might go to the Project Implicit site and take a peek into your heart.

You might be pleased with what you find.

And, of course, maybe you won’t…

Whatever, it’s a small start.