The Race Card. Again.
Reported on CNN:
Was race a factor in the slow response [Katrina]?
Question: Just your best guess, do you think one reason the federal government was slow in rescuing these people was because many of them were black, or was that not a reason?
Blacks answered:
Yes: 60%
No: 37%
Whites answered:
Yes: 12%
No: 86%
SAMPLE: Interviews conducted September 8-11 with 262 black adults and 848 non-Hispanic whites in the United States.
SAMPLING ERROR: +/- 7% for black sample; +/- 4% for white sample
I recall the first thing they teach you in statistics: you can make them say anything you want.
In research, the phrasing of the question is paramount. In court, the same holds true. The way the question is phrased will determine the answer, in a poorly constructed question. That is why lawyers jump up with "Objection! Leading" at every opportunity in court.
The question places the subject in the position of implying that race is a factor by virtue of word construction. Most people will agree when asked a question. In this case, agreement automatically confirms the interviewer's theory. Leading, as they say. Given that more of the whites seemingly disagreed with the automatic bias of the question, I will bet the interviewers were white.
But the interesting thing is the sampling. The majority of NO residents are black, yet the interviewer interviewed almost three times more whites than blacks. Where was the interview conducted? Outside of a golf course? Or was it done by phone? With the majority of the poorer neighborhoods still underwater, I would assume that there is no one home to pick up the phone.
The numbers are odd.
Given the monumental sampling error for the black group, here is the breakdown:
Blacks answered:
Yes: range 139-175
No: range 79-115
Whites answered:
Yes: range 68-136
No: range 695-763
Theoretically, an equal amount of blacks and whites could have answered yes. However, because of the number of interviewees, this likely did not happen. Similarly, blacks could have been nearly split down the middle with their responses, with an equal number saying yes and no. With this sampling error, it is hard to tell what reality is. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Ignoring the statistics, what is the real story? I know from being female that everything I interpret is influenced by the fact I am female. I view the world through female eyes, through female experiences. I have unique biases. I also view myself as white, though I am technically a minority. So I look through white female eyes out to the world.
As a white, I laughed when I saw this story. How in the world could the fact that they are black determine the response of the government? I saw no connection through my white female eyes. What I saw with this tragic display of governmental incompetence was just that: incompetence. FEMA did not receive a phone call, ask where the tragedy was, and how many blacks lived there. FEMA, IMHO, is not sufficiently competent to even ask those questions, which would imply some sort of conspiracy against minorities that, looking through my white female eyes, does not exist.
But then I remember. I remember as people looked at me like I was crazy when I said that I had been passed over for promotion because I was female. They, of course, were male, and looked through white male eyes. They could never see what I saw. They couldn't see the way little things added up: the way my ideas, suggestions, input were routinely ignored by the white male machine. I knew what was happening, I could see it. Why couldn't they?
Discrimination does not announce itself. No one will ever step up and say "Sorry, kid. We're not giving you the raise you because you are female." Just won't happen. Quid pro quo is the rarest form of discrimination. The real form of discrimination, the one that you know is there but you just can't quite put your finger on, is the one that is made every day, with each little comment and decision. We tend not to notice them until it is too late and the big picture has already been painted. Decisions are influenced by our biases, whether we acknowledge that or not. Each thing that happens, every event, every conversation, is interpreted through my white female eyes. And I see things you can't.
So, was the FEMA response slower because of the predominantly black populace? I don't think so. But I don't look through black eyes. I would never be able to see it.
Makes you wonder.
Was race a factor in the slow response [Katrina]?
Question: Just your best guess, do you think one reason the federal government was slow in rescuing these people was because many of them were black, or was that not a reason?
Blacks answered:
Yes: 60%
No: 37%
Whites answered:
Yes: 12%
No: 86%
SAMPLE: Interviews conducted September 8-11 with 262 black adults and 848 non-Hispanic whites in the United States.
SAMPLING ERROR: +/- 7% for black sample; +/- 4% for white sample
I recall the first thing they teach you in statistics: you can make them say anything you want.
In research, the phrasing of the question is paramount. In court, the same holds true. The way the question is phrased will determine the answer, in a poorly constructed question. That is why lawyers jump up with "Objection! Leading" at every opportunity in court.
The question places the subject in the position of implying that race is a factor by virtue of word construction. Most people will agree when asked a question. In this case, agreement automatically confirms the interviewer's theory. Leading, as they say. Given that more of the whites seemingly disagreed with the automatic bias of the question, I will bet the interviewers were white.
But the interesting thing is the sampling. The majority of NO residents are black, yet the interviewer interviewed almost three times more whites than blacks. Where was the interview conducted? Outside of a golf course? Or was it done by phone? With the majority of the poorer neighborhoods still underwater, I would assume that there is no one home to pick up the phone.
The numbers are odd.
Given the monumental sampling error for the black group, here is the breakdown:
Blacks answered:
Yes: range 139-175
No: range 79-115
Whites answered:
Yes: range 68-136
No: range 695-763
Theoretically, an equal amount of blacks and whites could have answered yes. However, because of the number of interviewees, this likely did not happen. Similarly, blacks could have been nearly split down the middle with their responses, with an equal number saying yes and no. With this sampling error, it is hard to tell what reality is. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Ignoring the statistics, what is the real story? I know from being female that everything I interpret is influenced by the fact I am female. I view the world through female eyes, through female experiences. I have unique biases. I also view myself as white, though I am technically a minority. So I look through white female eyes out to the world.
As a white, I laughed when I saw this story. How in the world could the fact that they are black determine the response of the government? I saw no connection through my white female eyes. What I saw with this tragic display of governmental incompetence was just that: incompetence. FEMA did not receive a phone call, ask where the tragedy was, and how many blacks lived there. FEMA, IMHO, is not sufficiently competent to even ask those questions, which would imply some sort of conspiracy against minorities that, looking through my white female eyes, does not exist.
But then I remember. I remember as people looked at me like I was crazy when I said that I had been passed over for promotion because I was female. They, of course, were male, and looked through white male eyes. They could never see what I saw. They couldn't see the way little things added up: the way my ideas, suggestions, input were routinely ignored by the white male machine. I knew what was happening, I could see it. Why couldn't they?
Discrimination does not announce itself. No one will ever step up and say "Sorry, kid. We're not giving you the raise you because you are female." Just won't happen. Quid pro quo is the rarest form of discrimination. The real form of discrimination, the one that you know is there but you just can't quite put your finger on, is the one that is made every day, with each little comment and decision. We tend not to notice them until it is too late and the big picture has already been painted. Decisions are influenced by our biases, whether we acknowledge that or not. Each thing that happens, every event, every conversation, is interpreted through my white female eyes. And I see things you can't.
So, was the FEMA response slower because of the predominantly black populace? I don't think so. But I don't look through black eyes. I would never be able to see it.
Makes you wonder.
posted by akantha at 6:11 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home