I am a white male, and I am prejudiced.It's a conversation starter that immediately sends up innumerable reactionary responses. Defensive retorts from the right, jaded hissing from the left. It's a conversation some of us have had before. I'm grateful that my first conversation about my own prejudices did not happen in public, but I'm glad I've had public conversations about prejudice.
What followed after the above statement, said by a guy calling in to C-Span and identifying himself as Gary, was a pause and then a brilliant response from a woman named Heather McGhee. She discussed the disproportionate coverage of minority crimes in the media. She discussed systemic, endemic, unconscious bias. She thanked him for admitting he knew he was prejudiced - because, these days, many don't see themselves as prejudiced; they see themselves as "truth tellers".
