CNN's Anderson Cooper talks with musician John Legend about his thoughts on kids and race bias.
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Filed under: 360° Radar • Race in America |
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Yes, many children (people) are color biased. However, we are also biased against ugly people, fat people, mean people and dumb people. If we use pictures displaying ugly and pretty, we will definitely show bias. We may make too much out of children's selections based on color. Do the same experiment with pretty and ugly children and comparte your findings.
I am a high school student in NYC. I find it frustrating how I am educated about racial segregation in US but we never really talk about the subject on an individual level. At time I find myself wishing I had a lighter shade of skin because that is the message that I receive from the world around me wether it is on TV, movies, or the jokes that my friends make. But in the end I find it irrelevant because my skin color those not determine wether I get into the university of my dream, Yale, or the career I choose. I hope those young kids can educate themselves through books and history to realize whatever ideas may have implant in their heads based on their surrounding are inaccurate and sadly a part of life.
Mr. Legend is so right. We do not need to be "color-blind" but see each other as the unique, wonderful individuals that we all are. But America is a long way off from this. I grew up in the south, Kentucky, moved to the west, Washington, adopted children from Haiti as infants five years ago. I can tell you that when travelling in the south and midwest, our children receive looks and are subjected to attitudes that they do not experience in the west. We need to continue to move beyond cultural habits and customs that exist in certain parts of he country. We need to give all persons of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds the inalienable right to success, happiness and equality.