Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes

Joschi Kuphal shared an amazing video on Twitter this morning. It is a documentary about an exercise that the school teacher, lecturer, and diversity trainer Jane Elliot devised in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. The exercise is called “Blue Eyes–Brown Eyes” and in it, Elliot uses the eye color of students to separate them into two groups: One with blue eyes and one with brown eyes. The group with the blue-eyed students – which turn out to be predominantly white – are then treated as being inferior throughout the exercise to make them feel the effects of racism and discrimination. The exercise received much public attention, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, and although scientific studies showed no evidence for long-term effects to reduce racism, the immediate effects of the exercise are obvious and fascinating to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPZEJHJPwIw

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This is the eleventh post of my 100 days of writing series. You can find a list of all posts here.

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