NY Times: When Whites Just Don't Get It Part 2

[daredtowork]

2. "Studies" Aren't Doing Much Good

I remember a "study" about about employers being less likely to hire someone when they have a typically black name that came out over a decade ago. Yet I'm sure the same is true today. "Raising awareness" does little when it comes to ingrained prejudice.

I'm tired of the ineffectualness of these studies. I'm frustrated that study after study comes out, yet little changes. I wish there were some more direct way to convert studies - which ostensibly supply us with some facts - into policy.

I worked as a Congressional Intern when I was in high school, and I used to pick up yellow "info packs" from the Library of Congress for the Congressperson I worked for. The "info" in them was so out of date! I was getting better information from my high school textbooks!

Perhaps this is the role of "think tanks" - to compile these studies so they can collectively inform policy. I just wish I could see more of the impact...or perhaps even more of the "chain of custody" so that I could see the facts generated by studies leading to good policies and social change.