In the late 1970s, social psychologist Mick Rothbart taught a class on race relations that had approximately equal numbers of black and white students. A white student would often begin a question with the preface, “Don’t black people feel …” and Mick would think to himself, “That’s a good question.” But if a black student started a question with “Don’t white people feel …” Mick found himself thinking, “What do they mean, ‘white people’? There are all kinds of white people, some conservative, some liberal, some Jewish, some gentile, some sensitive to the problems of minorities, and some not.
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