Jerry Kang's “Trojan Horses of Race”
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Trojan Horses of Race Author(s): Jerry Kang Source: Harvard Law Review, Vol. 118, No. 5 (Mar., 2005), pp. 1489-1593 Published by: The Harvard Law Review Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4093447 Accessed: 29/07/2009 13:58 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=harvardlaw. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Harvard Law Review Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Harvard Law Review. http://www.jstor.org TROJAN HORSES OF RACE JerryKang TABLE OF CONTENTS INTR O D U C T IO N 149 ............................................................................................................................. I. RACIALMECHANICS .............................................. ................. 1497 A. Racial Schemas....................................... ........... .......... 498 I. Schemas Generally....................................................................... ..... ............ 498 2. Racial Schemas ............................ ........ ........... ............1499 3. Automaticity ................................................... ............ 504 B. Im B ias 1506 plicit ................................................................................................................. i. The Problem: Opacity ........................................................... 1506 2. The Solution: Measuring Speed ............................................ 15o8 3. The Results: Pervasive Implicit 1512 Bias....................................................................... C. Behavioral Consequences ................................................ 1514 I. Interpreting................................................................................... ...................... 1515 2. Performing.................................................... ........................ 1519 3. Interacting ...................... ........................................ 1523 4. Shooting ................. .......................... .................... 1525 D. Objections ..................... ................................................ 1528 i. Correction Is Easy ............................................................... .....1528 2. Correction Is Impossible ............................................. 1531 E. A Research Agenda..... ........................................... 1535 II. TROJANH ORSES 539 ............................................................................................................1...... A. Tuning In to Broadcast ............................................. 1539 B. Redefining the Public Interest ....................................................................... ............ 1545 C. Local N ews ............................................................ .......... ............ 1549 . Crime and Punishment .......................... ............... .................. 1549 2. Trojan Horse Viruses ... ............................................ 1553 ............ 3. The A ccuracy Objection ........................................ .................................... 1563 D. Virus Protection.............................................................................. ................. ... ...... 1567 I. Recoding the Public Interest.................................................. 1568 2. Thought Experiments ........................................... 1572 (a) Firewall: Capping Crime Stories........................................ 1572 (b) Disinfection: Public Service Announcements ....................... .... ............ 1579 3. The Autonomy Objection ............................................ 1584 CONCLUSION 589 .............................................................. I489 TROJAN HORSES OF RACE Jerry Kang* Recent social cognition research has provided stunning evidence of implicit bias against various social categories. In particular, it reveals that most of us have implicit biases against racial minorities notwithstanding sincere self-reports to the contrary. These implicit biases have real-world consequence - in how we interpret actions, perform on exams, interact with others, and even shoot a gun. The first half of this Article imports this remarkable science into the law reviews and sets out a broad intellectual agenda to explore its implications. The second half examines where implicit bias comes from, and focuses on vicarious experiences with racial others mediated through electronic communications. This, in turn, raises a timely question of broadcast policy sparked by the FCC's controversial 2003 Media Ownership Order There, the FCC repeatedly justified relaxing ownership rules by explaining how it would increase, of all things, local news. But local news is replete with violent crime stories prominently featuring racial minorities. Consumption of these images, the social cognition research suggests, exacerbates our implicit biases. In other words, as we consume local news, we download a sort of Trojan Horse virus that increases our implicit bias. Unwittingly, the FCC linked the "public interest" to racism. Potential responses, such as recoding the public interest and examining potential firewalls and disinfectants for these viruses, are discussed in light of psychological, political, and constitutional constraints. * Visiting Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: http://jerrykang.net. Special thanks to Mahzarin Banaji. For helpful comments and conversations, I thank Annette Almazan, Betsy Bartholet, Gary Blasi, Angela Campbell, Ron Chen, Julie Cohen, Buju Dasgupta, Chris Edley, Dick Fallon, Terry Fisher, Kim Forde-Mazrui, James Forman, Oscar Gandy, Steve Goldberg, Tony Greenwald, Lani Guinier, Mitu Gulati, Linda Hamilton Krieger, Emma Jordan, John Jost, Duncan Kennedy, Randy Kennedy, Sung Hui Kim, Russell Korobkin, Don Langevoort, Carrie Menkel Meadow, John Mikhail, Helen Nissenbaum, Mike Seidman, Margaret Shih, Joe Singer, Gerry Spann, Rip Verkerke, Fred Yen, and Kathy Zeiler. Research assistance was provided by Angela Chan, Chester Day, and Michael Trinh, with smaller contributions from Sean Byrne, Justin Levinson, and Tom Moss. The Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library at the UCLA provided world-class assistance, as always. Funding for this project was provided by UCLA Asian American Studies Center, UCLA Dean's Summer Research Fund, Harvard Law School, and Georgetown University Law Center. This paper has been presented at the Berkman Center Cyberlaw Retreat, Cornell Law School, Georgetown Law Center, Harvard Law School, New York University's Department of Communication and Culture, and UCLA School of Law. I dedicate this piece to the teachers who have inspired me. 1490 2005] TROJAN HORSES OF RACE 1491 There is no immaculate perception. - Commonly attributed to Nietzsche1 You are what you eat. - Nutritional maxim In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indi- rect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. - Sun Tzu2 INTRODUCTION Consider the following studies, with an open mind. Computer Crash. Social cognitionist John Bargh asked participants to count whether an even or odd number of circles appeared on a computer screen.3 After the 13oth iteration, the computer was de- signed to crash, and the participants were told to start over. A hidden video camera recorded their reactions. Third-party observers then evaluated those recordings to measure participants' frustration and hostility. What neither participants nor observers knew was that for half the participants, a young Black male face was flashed sublimi- nally4 before each counting iteration; for the other half, the face was White. As rated by the observers, those who had been shown the Black faces responded with greater hostility to the computer crash.5 Mugshot. Political scientists Frank Gilliam and Shanto Iyengar created variations of a local newscast: a control version with no crime story, a crime story with no mugshot, a crime story with a Black- suspect mugshot, and a crime story with a White-suspect mugshot.6 1 Apparently, Nietzsche never actually said this, although he used the term "immaculate per- ception" (unbefleckten Erkenntniss) in Thus Spoke Zarathustra to disparage traditional views of knowledge. See FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA,reprinted in THE PORTABLENIETZSCHE 100, 233-36 (Walter Kaufmann ed. & trans., 1954). 2 SUN TZU, THE ART OF WAR, reprinted in ROOTS OF STRATEGY:A COLLECTIONOF