Is your baby racist?

I read the complete article, twice.

The whole piece is slanted to create White Guilt. Vittrup "recruited from the database about a hundred families, all of whom were Caucasian..."

What? Only Whites are Racist?!

Then Po Bronson kicks in his dig, "It's horrifying to imagine kids being "proud to be white."

Is it now?

Yes, the topic is worth discussing, but not when the discussion is not balanced.

i think the real question/imperative here, as asked by the author, is whether we are missing a critical opportunity towards eradicating racism by not talking openly with our children about it? the study showed clearly that talking works, but you gotta catch the kids early before stereotypes and prejudices are ingrained. talk movement. fascinating in its simplicity.

The study only used white families. Why not use all races in the test?

It's incredibly annoying that so few people bothered reading the article. And I'm pretty sure the preview image was supposed to be an ill-humored hook to get you interested, not all you were supposed to notice. Anyways.

After years of being taught about some exalted "colorblindness" that I just was never properly taught to be a part of, it's quite relieving to read that racial discrimination may perhaps be more inherent than most movements for equality typically suggest.

My only problem is the lack of additional factors that could follow race, such as general cultural differences that tend to follow along racial paths. In my personal experiences, race is often a prejudicial mark used to indicate the likelihood of two individuals finding enough common ground to get along socially, or even communicate well.

But perhaps I'm switching the chicken and the egg. If kids were comfortable enough to interact with people of different races from kindergarten onward, such cultural barriers are likely to not develop and fall with time. Hopefully.

This study was funded by me a taxpayer of the USofA, so I have every right to ask, and this "study" has not been published in any Pysch forum. As far as Pysch 101 I must tell you I have worked in a long-term Mental Health facility, for over 10 years, and I am able to work with children birth to 18. This "study" has no value whatsoever,in the pysch profession, except a state data base on thousands of Austins citizens. And it was well written, but the facts are pretty vague and monies spent was not justified. A true study has variables, and extensive in depth objectional data.
"Vittrup was taken back" an emotion, not objective. I contend this is still a biased platform, for a underlying , undisclosed, outcome. Any one in Pysch should know the guidelines of studies, or the UofT should of.

It depends. Does your baby disagree with Obama's policies? He does? Then that makes him a racist! (typical democratic thinking).... :)

Oh trust me. Hate must be taught. Once taught, it can rarely be removed. The base of controversy is Hate.

anyone who knows anything about psychology will agree that this is an interesting and well written article.

kudos to all those who actually recognize and understand the importance of this material being studied.

Speak for yourself 'Texas'

This article is very revealing and well written.
Being a person of color, I got f&#$ing mad when I seen the picture they depicted, why couldn't they use a Native American baby with leather diaper & baby spear?
I can only surmise the reason why they choose that picture, to show how sensitive this subject really is and where we actually are in this day and age.
Adolf Hitler is the one and only image that says "Racial Hatred" immediately, other than somebody in a Klu Klux Klan outfit.

It's going to be impossible to end racism in America as long as Americans are obsessed with race.

This quote summarizes pretty much how I feel about it:

"The idea that human races exist is a socially constructed myth that has no grounding in science. Regardless of skin, hair, or eye color, stature or physiognomy, we are all of one species. Nonetheless, scientists, social scientists, and pseudo-scientists have, for three centuries, tried vainly to prove that distinctive and separate "races" of humanity exist." http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Human-Races-Alain-Corcos/dp/0870134396

What we have is a bunch of people saying "Racism is bad", "All races are equal", blah, blah, blah.

What they don't seem to understand is that the idea of "race" that they cling to is what should be eliminated as it is directly needed for any type of racism to exist.

But still, people insist on classifying themselves or others as "black", or "white", willing to accept one form of racism and not another, when it's all racism.

Why not just get rid of race and racism all together?

What the hell?

wow... very interesting... you have to read the whole thing..

That was a very interesting study. Worth reading the whole thing.
"We all want our children to be unintimidated by differences and have the social skills necessary for a diverse world. The question is, do we make it worse, or do we make it better, by calling attention to race"?---good question.

Hmm, it seems like only three or four people here actually read the whole article. Typical.

blah blah blah ,,heard all this bulls--t before,,,,,,,still the picture of a baby hitler,,,funny as f--k,,lol lol lol

LAWLZ!!
Lets waste more time and money.
Didn't Bill Cosby do a show on this?

NEIN!

"Kids as young as 6 months judge others based on skin color."

'Judge' or CAN OBSERVE skin pigmentation differences?

Because 'recognition of color' is different than a baby thinking to himself "Man, those black colored babies are probably going to steal my booties if I don't watch em closely."

I highly doubt children are judging anything at 6 months. Period.

Racism is ridiculous. And America is the worst of the worst when it comes to things like this, despite all it's talk of tolerance and freedom. But what can you expect from a system of politicians and rich people who are white for the most part do to a hundreds of years of slavery and oppression of all those with non-white skin? There's bound to be some left over hate on both sides, for the ignorant at least. Hate because of character, not appearance. Long exhausted sigh...

All human behavior is Learned.

my baby is toatally racist. he wont let the smurfs play with the fraggles from fraggle rock... i know right?!! you would think the two would get along being about the same size, must be a color issue.. but were did he learn to hate a certain color? and dont you dare try and tell me its my fault (the parent) i blame t.v. and the media and possibly bye abussive racist girlfriends i randomly bring home.

(lol i dont have any kids, i really dont know where i was going with this, i thought i had something but, blah)

WHY IS THAT BABY TRYING TO MAKE CHARLIE CHAPLIN LOOK LIKE A NAZI?!?!

I DON'T GET THE JOKE.

fuckin morons dont understand the genesis of hate and are too stupid to not post thier ignorance

I cant believe your on the babies, when there is such a bigger issue here.

Did anyone even read the article? I know it's long, but it's quite interesting, and it does not claim that children are racist in the sense that adults are, but that they do develop observations about people in order to categorize and thereby better understand their environment. Although the title may be provocative, the article really isn't at all. If you read it, you realize that the findings of the study actually make sense, that children will form ideas about things on their own, and it is important to talk about these issues with your children. Not exactly an offensive conclusion, at least in my opinion.

I can't believe that someone is claiming ' racial' issues about the limited information an infant has to evaluate it's environment. This is moronic, reaching and simply insulting! An infant knows nothing, NOTHING about 'race' ; a youthful innocent observation is not an 'ism' ; to infer any accurate reasoning behind such action is SPECULATION, aka projecting... Bullshit!

A baby sensing that another person is different, whether it be skin color, speech or a physical aliment, is not racism. A baby doesn't even know what racism is, and since racism is a belief not a reaction, using the word "racism" is incorrect.

This article is very very interesting, if you read the whole thing...

You got the picture wrong, the baby should of been blond,
and black and white and Nazis? why not a white baby in a capitalist suit and a cross tie pin and a black baby in a multi colored robe, holding a staff?

Why is the STATE, asking kids their parents viewpoints, has this project been FEDERALLY funded? Were the parents informed as to the context of the questions or were they fed a smile and a watered down summary. And she should be happy only 14% said their parents didnt like black people, that means 86% either didnt point out skin color or it truly didnt matter. Was this also a multi racial study? did she interview Black kids or Spanish kids or Asian kids, how they felt about outher cultures? This was a truly biased study, I bet 10.00 Birgitte Vittrup is a minority. The U of Texas should of made sure it was a fair study and Austin, the STATE has a data base on you VOLUNTEERED personal beliefs. beware of this haunting you later.