A recent UCLA study shows that people perceived Melanoid men with stereotypicaally Black names to be more larger in stature and more violent. The series of studies involved 1500-plus people.

“I’ve never been so disgusted by my own data,” said lead author Colin Holbrook, a research scientist in the anthropology department in the UCLA College. “The amount that our study participants assumed based only on a name was remarkable. A character with a black-sounding name was assumed to be physically larger, more prone to aggression, and lower in status than a character with a white-sounding name.”

Most of the participants in the study were whites, ranging from ages 18 up to the mid 70s–an interesting statistic that dispels the notion that today’s generation is “post racial”.

Although the average height in the U.S. for both Black and white males are the same, the participants envisioned that the Blacks would be simultaneously larger in stature and lower in status, while they envisioned the males with  white-sounding names as being smaller in stature and higher up on the social ladder.

The study also peels back another layer behind the mindset of white supremacists–and suspected white supremacists alike. In case you were wondering why your resume keeps being looked over if you have a “Black-sounding” name? Maybe you just scare the hell out of your potential employer.

B. Clark