Black Americans broadly report they need to work harder and be better qualified than white Americans merely to receive equal consideration for jobs and other opportunities. Whites generally say they hold no racial animus toward blacks. These reports seem to contradict each other, but they aren't. The fact that both can be true at the same time points both to barriers to, and possibilities for, racial progress in America.
The irony is that the racial inequalities in America today can sustain themselves without racial bias among whites. This is the implication of a large swath of the literature on “implicit bias.” The inapt phrase itself—implicit bias—masks the implication. The phrase misfocuses attention on what much of its own literature suggests is the wrong variable, and, hence, on the wrong remedy.
Lest I be misunderstood, let me state the obvious: racial economic inequality today certainly reflects the legacy of racism in America. The puzzle, however, is this: Why hasn't racial inequality decreased along with the decrease in racial animus?
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