Writers' Guild of America-West
Screen Actors' Guild
Americans for American Values
Kirwan Institute
and
Equal Justice Society
present

READING BETWEEN THE LINES:
UNCOVERING UNCONSCIOUS RACIAL BIAS

A panel introduced by Norman Lear

September 30, 2009
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Reception to follow panel
Writers Guild of America
7000 West Third Street
Los Angeles, California

RSVP on the web or on Facebook

In his autobiography Nelson Mandela tells of getting on a plane in Africa after his release from 28 years of imprisonment. The pilot of the plane was a Black African. This frightened Mandela. When he examined his fears, he realized that he had internalized negative stereotypes of Black incompetence.

Many of us have internalized negative stereotypes of women, lesbians and gay men, the disabled, older people, and people of color. These fears operate in our unconscious.

WGA and SAG in partnership with Americans for American Values, the Kirwan Institute, and the Equal Justice Society present a thought-provoking discussion on unconscious bias offering insights that will challenge and inspire new ideas in developing and producing programming that reflects the true diversity of our rapidly changing society.

Panelists include:

• Dr. Drew Westen, Author of The Political Brain
• Celinda Lake, Pollster
• john powell, Professor of Law, The Ohio State University
• Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
• Dr. Camille Charles, University of Pennsylvania
• Jerry Kang, Professor of Law, UCLA
• Dr. Maninder Kahlon, Cognitive Neuroscientist
• Jeff Adachi, San Francisco Public Defender and Producer of The Slanted Screen, a documentary on Asian Americans in cinema
• Eva Paterson, President, Equal Justice Society

The panelists will explore how the brain processes information and how the need for quick decision often leads to faulty conclusions. Political ads from the 2008 presidential campaign will be used as examples of how media can "prime" viewers to activate stereotypes and similarly, deactivate the impact of negative unconscious stereotypes. A number of ads showed candidate Obama as a menacing Black man - purposefully done to make voters afraid of him.

RSVP on the web or on Facebook