The Event:How racist are you?

Over the past few weeks channel 4 has broadcast a series of controversial documentaries on race.

One programme in particular, called How racist are you? Demonstrated the effect of discrimination and racism through a controlled experiment. Presented by Channel 4 News reader,Krisnan Guru Murphy and monitored by two behavioural psychologist's the experiment took place in a London warehouse.

The woman who pioneered this social exercise was a primary school teacher called Jane Elliot. In the 1960's she taught eight year olds in the heart of Americas mid west.
This decade may have been known to many as a time of peace, love and harmony. However it was also the civil rights movement and a time of racial unrest.
She couldn't understand the point or need for racism and wanted to show her pupils how illogical and cruel it was. By using something as arbitrary as eye colour she divided her class into two groups:brown and blue eyes. With the brown eyed students in charge and the blue eyed ones under their control. The effects were amazing.

The channel 4 show was a reenactment of the same experiment and the things that followed were remarkable. Not in the sense that she set out and did what she intended to with the mixed group of 30 volunteers. But the unexpected reactions and attitudes toward it.

Everyone should see this show. Please check it out