Blind Spot Summary

In addition to reading Blind Spot, the freshman class was required to attend an informational seminar about the text titled Global Citizenship: An Imperative for the 21st Century. It was held by Dr. Rich Salas, an assistant professor and director of multicultural affairs at Des Moines University. The main points he made were that people need to think about how their actions affect others, especially when dealing with race. Also, intention vs. impact in these actions we make and what we can try and do to get rid of those mind bugs that are subconsciously impairing our actions. The most imperative fact I concluded from both the book and the speaker is that everyone has biases. Even those who are “good” have stereotypes instilled into their brain without realizing it. Dr. Salas made this clear by admitting he too has biases. He continued on to tell a story about when he went for a run in Chicago. While he was out, he encountered a group of African Americans. Instinctively, he crossed over to the other side of the road and continued on …show more content…
Salas mentioned was a scientific study. This was conducted with children who were African American and Caucasian. They were asked to point to one of the two dolls, which were the two different races, when asked a question. Some of these questions included which doll was good, bad, or pretty? An overwhelming amount of the African American children associated the Caucasian doll with all of the good qualities and the African American doll with the negative traits. This video caused me to feel genuinely sad. The fact that children this young already believe they are not beautiful because of the color of their skin pains my heart. This topic was also addressed in Blind Spot. The text mentions that children’s biases are formed at a young age while their brains are growing. How adults act towards different races, even their own race, around young children ultimately instill biases and stereotypes in the children’s