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Hidden bias response

Hidden bias response
-Meisen Hu

To be honest, I only have a very limited amount of knowledges regarding American politics, and unfortunately, (no offence but) I don’t understand many of the issues behind some of the tests. Please forgive me if you find my response offensive.

Ever since my family bought a satellite TV over a decade ago and I began to watch western media through it, I’m always concerned about the effects of media contents to people and if they are spreading biases either intentionally and unintentionally. I never really liked watching news report when I was small, and after a terrorist attack in the Xinjiang Province of China by the Chinese cult Fa Lungong (which ironically, you can watch their very religious show “Shen Yun” in L.A.) in early 2008, my parents prohibited me from watching mainstream Chinese news media after, and I was only allowed to watch western media via the satellite TV so I can learn English. It might sound surprising to you but by that point, I’ve never learned about “racism” since we really don’t have the same issue in China. It was only till I started watching CNN and ABC news then I begin to learn about racism in the west. Unfortunately, I later became a victim of racism in Canada, and after I’ve become more and more aware of racial discriminations in educational materials and media contents.

The result of the race bias test is a bit surprising to me, in the test, we have to categorize faces of white Americans, black Americans, along with harmless objects and weapons in a short period of time. Unfortunately due to the incident which happened back when I was studying in Canada, I have to admit that I’m afraid of white, male teenagers in general and I tend to associates them with weapons and violent, reckless behaviors. However after I’ve finished the test, the result suggests that my bias is more towards Black Americans, which to me is a bit awkward and confusing, maybe I did the test incorrectly? Or maybe my bias is just towards reckless teenagers regardless of their race and identity? I think this might have to do with how news media (which I now watch regularly) have been unintentionally associating Black Americans with violence and crime. I know this might sound a bit bias for me to say, but as an Asian non-immigrant in America, I always feel that Black Americans are more friendly and calm towards me, maybe my past catastrophes have also contributed developing my bias?

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