Do we are born racists? - Jason Marsh / Jeremy Adam Smith / Rodolfo Mendoza Denton

Do we are born racists? Between the writers and scholars to help us understand the emerging science concerned with racial biases, as these studies include results reached by neuroscience, revealing the brain mechanisms behind our reactions towards people belonging to different races, in addition to what positive psychology has concluded from results highlighting our equally strong motivations behind empathy, compassion, and justice. And although these research paths may seem incompatible at first, a close look reveals a reciprocal, intertwined, and astonishing influence between prejudice and the principle of equality. Which gives us a reason to continue the fight against racism. Neuroscience has concluded that racial biases are rooted in brain areas that developed early in human evolution, and that this still controls our instincts today. But the study also found that our brains are designed to be flexible, adaptable, and capable of learning, and that the cerebral cortex — which has evolved significantly in recent times — works to regulate our automatic impulses and helps us achieve our goals, including the goal of fair treatment of different people. Revolutionary ideas, one after another, are found in this widely available book, as the least it offers is a model change in the way we think about everything; starting from how bias affects our lives, and ending with how laws and institutional practices can be used to reduce its negative effects. The book does all this in a concise manner that I hope will ensure it gets more than what it deserves: to be read widely. Claude M. Steele, American psychologist and emeritus professor at Stanford University