http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/20/AR2010082004636.html
Dr. Laura's apology and the science of racism
By Rachel Dry
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Does guilt make you less racist?
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is very sorry. "I am very sorry," she said on the air Aug. 11, apologizing to her listeners for a racially heated broadcast the day before in which she, in her words, "articulated the N-word all the way out, more than one time." The radio veteran promised: "And it just won't happen again."
Well, she's probably right, for a number of reasons. Last week, she told Larry King that she will end her radio program at the end of the year. But there's another reason, too. She made a very public mistake, demonstrating, in the view of many listeners, racial insensitivity. Because of that, she's likely to work harder to avoid any prejudice or insensitivity in the future.
That's one conclusion from "The Egalitarian Brain" by New York University psychologist David Amodio, a chapter in the new book "Are We Born Racist?," a collection of psychological and sociological research on racism and the brain.
http://www.psych.nyu.edu/amodio/
http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2135
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