New Zealand, how racist are we?
Hey New Zealand, how racist are we?
It’s not a question many people ask, and it may even offend some – but two documentary makers are asking it with good reason.
Jane Andrews and Melanie Rakena, from Jam TV, are on a mission to find out which parts of our country and at what age people are more racially biased.
The duo are co-producing a two-episode documentary called That’s a Bit Racist, which will air on TVNZ next year.
Each one-hour long episode contains interviews with Kiwis of all ages from across New Zealand.
But what makes this series unusual is the data that will be included in it.
Jam TV has teamed up with Harvard University and will be using its survey, called Project Implicit, which measures unconscious bias in people.
Andrews said the survey basically aims to find out how we feel about the relationship between Ma¯ori and Pa¯keha¯ at an unconscious level.
‘‘I appreciate that the concept of trying to test how racist New Zealand is feels very negative. It feels probably aggressive to some people but that is not the intent. You just can’t look at something if you don’t know what you’re looking at.
‘‘How can we talk about this subject when we don’t really know how big, or wide or deep the problem is?’’
The test is simple, anonymous and can take between 15-20 minutes.
There are also no right or wrong answers, Andrews said.
It asks typical questions such as age, occupation, ethnicity, and location. It then asks participants whether they think racism is a problem in New Zealand.
To test for unconscious bias, it then asks participants to associate words and pictures of people into groups.
‘‘What we’re trying to look at is the bias that exists in our everyday lives.’’
It requires Kiwis to put their personal thoughts and feelings aside on the topic, and will simply look at people’s reaction times and what messages people have been exposed to, Andrews said.
‘‘It’s designed to look at how your brain is wired. So, it’s not about what you’d say to your neighbour. It’s not about how you would teach your kids to treat people that they meet. It’s not about any of those value judgements that we make – it’s literally about, as New Zealanders, what are the messages we are exposed to as we grow up and live in our society.’’
The results are expected to show which age demographics, occupations and areas of the country are more or less racially biased.
‘‘It does allow a really interesting and detailed insight into how we treat each other, how we see each other that hasn’t been done before.’’
Andrews said while she expects the results to be interesting, she is also prepared for negative feedback.
‘‘It’s going to be unpopular, there’s going to be some backlash when the results come out. People are going to find it uncomfortable but it’s better to know, I think, than not know.
‘‘I guarantee I’m going to get hate mail, but I still think it’s important.’’
Andrews hopes the research could be the start of a more constructive discussion on the topic.
‘‘Throwing sticks and stones at each other isn’t going to progress things on greatly, so maybe, maybe some numbers that make us uncomfortable could do that – could get us to a different place in the discussion,’’ she said.
‘‘I would hope we can all agree that we’re not in the best place we could be in terms of racism and racial bias. I think we can do better, I certainly hope we can do better.’’
To make the research as successful as possible, it needs as many Kiwis of different ages, backgrounds and regions as possible to take part.
‘‘How can we talk about this subject when we don’t really know how big, or wide or deep the problem is?’’
Jane Andrews