At this point I have taken this IAT test twice. And both times I got the same result: "Little to no automatic preference between African American and European American" and that's great! Nothing like a day booster that reinforces that you don't prefer one type of person to another.
So, what do I do with this information? It doesn't change anything in my daily life, it doesn't change how I see the world. In fact it enhances (used lightly) those things. With the type of anxiety I have and all I have been taught, often when walking down the street and seeing someone of a different race I think that they think that I'm racist when I stare. Or that I have something against them, but then when I look away and look at my feet or whats ahead I fear the same thing because now I'm scared they're thinking "Geez, she won't even look at me" and it's a cycle that ends with me usually pretending to text or check my voicemail. So, now I can tell myself "Please, you know that's not true" and hope that I'm listening.
In reference to the documentary I Sit Where I Want that we watched in class, I don't really think it changes my views on anything. I still don't like that big white kid because he couldn't/wouldn't show the tiniest of courtesy. I still don't have a strong liking for the African American girl because she was being the biggest hypocrite and going back on all she said. And I still don't understand why they were trying to integrate the lunch room (of all places).
People do sit where they want. And that's usually with their friends. You can't tell somebody that in the half hour they get off from school a day you're going to make them sit with people they don't know and feel uncomfortable. And yes, most people would sit with others of their race but that's probably because they grew up in the same area or their parents know each other or they just found comfort in it (which isn't bad). And I know that if I was in that lunch room, I would be annoyed with the people who were trying to move me. Lunch is the time that kids get to talk about whatever they want and get a relief from the school day, it's nothing about race.
If they wanted to make a notable difference, integrate the classrooms or buses, give students the time to make other friends before their forced into it.
