Foul

[monk222]

♠
You would think that if there were one area in American society where blacks are utterly and entirely free from racial discrimination, it would be in professional basketball. But not so says a recent study:

An academic study of the National Basketball Association, whose playoffs continue tonight, suggests that a racial bias found in other parts of American society has existed on the basketball court as well.

A coming paper by a University of Pennsylvania professor and a Cornell University graduate student says that, during the 13 seasons from 1991 through 2004, white referees called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players.

Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics, found a corresponding bias in which black officials called fouls more frequently against white players, though that tendency was not as strong. They went on to claim that the different rates at which fouls are called “is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew assigned to the game.”

I'm surprised that there were enough white players on which to base a study!

Beyond basketball fans, the greater interest is in the idea of subconscious racism and how it perhaps pervades life in the workplace in general. Well, we've come a long way, but we may never see the Promise Land. At least it's neat to see society still consciously working on it, but then I'm not a very optimistic fellow.


(Source: Alan Schwarz for The New York Times)

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