Jane Elliott's 'How Racist Are You?'

In a world where image is everything, very few people take the time to look past what is on the surface. Jane Elliott happens to be one of those extraordinary people who have learned to not judge a book by its cover. According to the article “Jane Elliott,” Jane has devoted her life to combatting discrimination. She has stated on multiple occasions that the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr was the driving force in her creation of the “blue-eyed” experiment. This exercise has been performed on children and adults of all ethnicities in many different locations in an attempt to eliminate prejudice in society. In this analysis will be the participant’s reactions, attempts to cope, academic results in the children’s group, idea similarities between Elliott and Allport as well as why racism still exists, who is responsible for causing it and who is responsible

The reactions of the adults varied a little more than the children, but for the most part were very similar. As displayed in the documentary, from the moment the minority group stepped into the room the privileged group was looking down upon them as if they were criminals, forming a sense of hierarchy. One man, although in the privileged group, was a minority in reality. He explained to the white people that he, “plays the game” to survive in society. He conforms to society so that people do not have the opportunity to label him based off of his name or appearance before getting to know him. Having grown up in an almost completely white home, the only indication that he is not white is his appearance. In fact, he does not even pick up his daughter from school because he does not want her to be judged based off of the color of his skin by the white children and parents at her school. He has lived his whole life looked upon as a stereotype even though he is no different than the white people he is surrounded