The Lantern

Issue date: 7/10/07 Section: Campus

Media Credit: Shino Omura

Researchers said they found a $10,000 answer to a priceless question in a recent study: What is the cost of being black?

The study, conducted by researchers at Ohio State, Harvard and Georgia Southern University, found that white people are unaware of the complexities of being black.

The researchers asked the participants, who were white Americans of different ages, questions such as how much they would need to be paid to have television completely taken away from them for the rest of their lives. The majority of people said about $1 million.

Comparatively, they were asked how much they would need to be paid to be black for the rest of their lives. The majority answer to that question was less than $10,000.

Some students said the participants requested accurate amounts. Brooke Davis, a junior in pre-health information management and systems, said the participants requested amounts similar to what she would have requested.

"If I were asked how much it costs to be white, I would probably request about the same amount," she said.

Davis said she thinks it is difficult to measure the costs of being any race. Where you live and how you were brought up are important in determining one's disparities, she said.

Co-author of the study and OSU alumna Mahzarin Banaji, said the study was intended to determine why white people are disinclined to support reparations for the descendants of slaves. Banaji is now a professor at Harvard University.

According to the study, people who did request large amounts of money generally supported reparations for descendants of slaves.

Banaji said the findings were surprising: "White Americans are blind to the cost of being black."

The findings might not stem from white Americans trying to repress the group, but rather from their ignorance of black disparities, she said.

Phil Mazzocco, another co-author of the study and psychology professor at OSU's Mansfield branch, said the results are most likely because white people are completely unaware of the everyday struggles blacks face. These struggles range from massive disadvantages in job opportunities, income wealth and treatment by the justice system, he said.

"In general, the findings show that most white Americans are simply uneducated when it comes to the disparities," he said. "Once people are aware of them, they'll most likely support reparations."

The researchers plan to do follow-up studies with the participants and with other social groups such as women and Asian Americans.

Elizabeth Slightam can be reached at Slightam.1@osu.edu.

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