Fighting Racial Bias in an Age of Mass Murder

As avowed neo-Nazi James Alex Fields pleaded guilty Wednesday to 29 counts of hate crimes in a federal court for plowing his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville in August of 2017, we look at a new book that addresses the tragic event, as well as the rising number of race-based mass shootings, hate crimes and police shootings of unarmed men in the past several years. It also examines cases of discrimination against African Americans for simply sitting in coffee shops or trying to vacation in Airbnb-hosted homes. Professor Jennifer Eberhardt is the author of Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do about how implicit bias impacts everything from hate crimes to microaggressions in the workplace, school and community, and what we can do about it. Eberhardt is a professor of psychology at Stanford and a recipient of a 2014 MacArthur “genius” grant.

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We end the show with the news out of Virginia, where avowed neo-Nazi James Alex Fields pleaded guilty Wednesday to 29 counts of hate crimes in a federal court for plowing his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville in August 2017. As part of the deal, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. Last December, a Virginia jury sentenced Fields to life in prison for his violent act, which killed anti-fascist protester Heather Heyer and injured 28 others at a counterprotest of the white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally.

AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a new book that addresses the tragic events in Charlottesville, as well as the rising number of race-based mass shootings, hate crimes, police shootings of unarmed men in the past several years. It also looks at cases of discrimination against African Americans for simply sitting in coffee shops or trying to vacation at Airbnb-hosted homes. Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes…

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