When it comes to bias-based hate, U.S. appears to be slipping, Harvard analyst says
With 11 people killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue, racially motivated shootings in a Kentucky store, and bombs in the mail, it seems like ethnic, religious, and racial hate is increasingly running unchecked in America. Harvard leaders expressed shock and sadness this week over the attacks and called on the University community to come together to fight division and bigotry. In comments at Harvard Hillel on Sunday, President Larry Bacow urged his audience to combat hate with good deeds and kindness and to understand that, though people may feel helpless, they can show their power by voting for leaders who’ll unite the country. Mahzarin Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics and chair of Harvard’s Psychology Department, is an authority on bias that can run so deep that we don’t even recognize it in ourselves. Banaji spoke with the Gazette about the roots of prejudice, about public perceptions that it is more...