The eCrozier

A recent study by researchers at Stanford University exposes just how deeply embedded racial constructs are in our culture. The study, “Race and the Fragility of the Legal Distinction between Juveniles and Adults,” asked participants to read about a 14-year-old male with 17 prior juvenile convictions who brutally raped an elderly woman. Half of the respondents were told the offender was black; the other half were told he was white. The difference in race was the only change between the two stories.

Participants were then asked two questions dealing with sentencing and perception. The first question was this: “To what extent do you support life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles when no one was killed?” The second question was this: “How much do you believe that juveniles who commit crimes such as these should be considered less blameworthy than an adult who commits a similar crime?” The study found that participants who had in mind a black offender more strongly endorsed a policy of sentencing juveniles convicted of violent crimes to life in prison without parole compared to respondents who had in mind a white offender.

That result hardly should be surprising given the racial history of our culture. What surprised me was that the study took into account racial bias and political ideology, so since the study controlled for those effects, it was clear that neither accounted for these results. One of the study’s authors said: “The findings showed that people without racial animus or bias are affected by race as much as those with bias.” This indicates how deeply seeded race is in our culture.

Recently Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who I understand is considering running for Governor of that state, told a radio interviewer that it’s “possible” he’ll keep President Obama off that state’s ballot unless he gets proof the president was born in the U.S.A. “I’m not a birther,” he said. “I believe that the president was born in Hawaii, or at least, I hope he was.”

Secretary Bennett is a respected elected official in his state. He is well-educated and in his own words he disavows any racial bias or any participation in wild conspiracy theories. And yet, he might possibly withhold President Obama’s name from the presidential ballot in his state. Maybe the Stanford study could help explain how Secretary Bennett could possibly consider doing that? I have to wonder if President Obama were white would this be something he would even remotely be considering.

St Benedict in his Rule reminds us that we are called to a daily process of conversion of life. Such conversion, however, cannot truly happen unless we are willing to have the full light of truth shine on us and on the culture in which we live. It is clear to me that we are affected by our culture in ways that are so deep and unconscious we often have trouble recognizing the truth when it comes to us. This means rather than berating ourselves for our bias, racial and otherwise, we would do better just to keep awake to its reality and then do our best to account for it as we seek daily conversion to the Gospel of Jesus.

+Scott