Racist Testing

"Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for African American compared to European American."

That result statement is a link to a Harvard test about racial inclinations. I happen to think the methodology is crap, but whatever - I'm wired oddly about race. I probably do lean away from "whitey", but not so much that I have self-loathing or anything. I grew up among all black people (we were poor- go figure) and I was actually bussed to the white kids school. Me and one other white kid named Randy in a bus with 30 or 40 black kids. There were some Vietnamese kids in town, but they lived somewhere else. There were NO hispanic or latino people anywhere. I never met any until I moved to Denver.

Once we moved out of the "hood" (I'm exaggerating, but not much), I ended up going to school and work in downtown St. Louis. Once again, I was surrounded by black folks. Apart from walking into a gunfight one night, it was safe, comfortable, and normal. More to my point, it was real. I don't mean like "I'm keeping it real" or any of the other cliche bullshit- I mean I saw cops when they showed their true colors. I saw countless cabs NOT stopping to pick up my friends. I saw bona fide racist people harass and attack my friends, co-workers, fellow students, and passersby. I saw the way this country works.

That being said, I think it's important to make and keep friends of all sorts, and give them undue influence on your world view, or else you may notice the way we continue to shaft New Orleans, or institutionalize discrimination, and your soul might die.