#lakisha

[arutai]

Lakisha Flores by Chris Douglas

[theonlyadawong]

Jaja's African Hair Braiding

Written by Jocelyn Bioh

Dir. Whitney White

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 2023

This dazzling world premiere welcomes you into Jaja’s bustling hair braiding shop in Harlem where every day, a lively and eclectic group of West African immigrant hair braiders are creating masterpieces on the heads of neighborhood women. During one sweltering summer day, love will blossom, dreams will flourish and secrets will be revealed. The uncertainty of their circumstances simmers below the surface of their lives and when it boils over, it forces this tight-knit community to confront what it means to be an outsider on the edge of the place they call home.

(Photos by Matthew Murphy)

[simshousewindsor]

By Shon Gableton | Published by SNN

Queen Katherine I presented an honorary Order of Merit to Mother LaKisha in recognition of her outstanding service to sims. The Nobel Peace Prize winner became the second non-Windenburg citizen to win the Order.

The Order of Merit and was established by King Edward II in 1942. The Order is limited to just 14 living recipients, including distinguished scientists, writers, musicians and artists.

During the simple ceremony in the throne room of the Palace, The Queen handed Mother LaKisha a scarlet metal insignia. There were no citations or speeches at the ceremony which was only attended by a dozen people. Some of those in attendance included Mother LaKisha’s co-workers. 

Upon acceptance, Mother LaKisha said: “I accept it for the glory by God and also our work.”

Mother LaKisha is founder of the Order of the Sims Missionaries of Charity, a Catholsim congregation of women in 1960. With a humble beginning in Marvania, this religious congregation expanded globally, becoming a beacon of hope for the poor, sick, and destitute.

Mother LaKisha’s visit to Windenburg was to receive the Nobel Peace Price and visit The Pope. It coincided with a summit by members of the Commonwealth to discuss global issues, ahead of this weekend''s G5 Summit.

Windenburg will be hosting this year's G5 and, as such, The Queen will host the G5 Leaders for a summit reception at Buckingsim Palace.

[authorlakisha]

Inspirational Nugget

Stop allowing the fear of failure to keep you from doing what you’ve been called to do! Even if you fail, keep trying because that failure will soon be the opening to your testimony of “how God did it.”

[thewwshow]

Jealous Ex Boyfriend Accused of Killing His Baby Mother (Live)

[mindblowingscience]

Because names are among the first things you learn about someone, they can influence first impressions. That this is particularly true for names associated with Black people came to light in 2004 with the release of a study that found employers seeing identical resumes were 50% more likely to call back an applicant with stereotypical white names like Emily or Greg versus applicants with names like Jamal or Lakisha. I'm a behavioral economist who researches discrimination in labor markets. In a study based on a hiring experiment I conducted with another economist, Rulof Burger, we found that participants systematically discriminated against job candidates with names they associated with Black people, especially when put under time pressure. We also found that white people who oppose affirmative action discriminated more than other people against job candidates with distinctly Black names, whether or not they had to make rushed decisions.

Continue Reading.

[breha]

i'm reading crescent city girls: the lives of young black women in segregated new orleans by lakisha michelle simmons and one detail in it is about how although the french quarter during the first half of the twentieth century was overwhelmingly white, a black order of nuns owned a building there, at what's currently the site of the bourbon orleans hotel, from 1881 to 1965. they lived there and ran an orphanage and a school for girls (the order and the school still exist, just in a different neighborhood). i think it's an affecting image that 1132 royale street was so close (a 7-minute walk, just down the street and around the corner) to a high school claudia was pointedly not attending. she probably walked by the building hundreds of times, at night when it was shuttered and quiet. she walked by it when she was 14, 15, 16, 17, just like the girls who studied there, but she was fundamentally separated from them forever. she could go there, even slip into the classrooms or the dormitory where the nuns slept, but she could never get there, across the veil to the place it was during the day. and at first she didn't really grasp what any of this meant because it was novel, even a little exciting, it made her feel special – "i've gotta go to bed when the rest of the world wakes up, so there's less kids to play with..." – but you know it sank in eventually. as the students moved from grade to grade, graduated, grew up, and were replaced by new girls, claudia stayed the same. her and the building, its balconies, its arched windows, the cross against the night sky, unchanging. singular. forever. fuck!!!!!!!!

[floette777]

Nickname: Nunya (Why is her nickname Nunya? It's Nunya your business😏)

Real name : Lakisha

Age 35 born in America in 1961 died from house fire in 1996

Personally: she is a scary and angry mama bear that will slash others with her claws or with her physical strength she crushed you or threw you far away with her big bear arms if annoyed but she wasn't like this when she was human. Nunya was an sweet hard working woman who is a mother of 2 boys who likes to sing with her kids but after that tragic event she lost that part of herself.

If someone tells the demons that Nunya used to be a sweet woman and also sings a lot when she's human they think you're joking.

She however still has that motherly instinct in her by adoption Xoxa and Dinky, At least there is some of her old human self in there.

Backstory: "warning for murder"

When Lakisha is alive she was an single Mother raising 2 boys age 5 and age 9. She divorced her ex-husband after she caught him cheating on her with a woman he worked with. Her ex is still around to pay child support.. well until he gets sick of paying child support and plans on murder her & the kids by strangling and stabbing them with his girlfriend and setting the house on fire to make it a fire accident.

While they were setting the house on fire Nunya woke up from unconscious but loses it after seeing her sons deceased. In blind rage she grabs a butcher knife and stab them but while continuing attacking them in blind rage the burning house ceiling collapses on both of them ending her life.

While her kids end up in heaven she didn't get to see them after Nunya was sent to hell by Adam after punching him for being a pervert by slapping her behind. Now she is here in hell enraged and sad but was covered up from so much rage she wreaks havoc on the city by slashing demons and building with her butcher knife like claws until she calmed down with her rage turned into depression.

Later during her walk of depression missing her kids and cursing Adam's name she met an old looking rat demon who is an butcher named Gregory who is impressed by her cutting skills asking to work on his store if she does he'll help her get an apartment to stay. Knowing she has nowhere to go she accepts and takes the job working as a butcher in the cannibal town.

Surprisingly her life is somewhat peaceful ironically in the town full of cannibals thankfully her being great at her job being a butcher after getting used to cutting questionable meats and the way she dress helps her avoid being food to the cannibal folks. Her time there is okay until she makes an enemy with a curtain deer demon plus with some overlords mostly the pimp moth who wouldn't leave her alone ruins it.

Nickname: Xoxa the scorpion demon (Reason? She named herself thinking it's a good name for a poisonous demon like herself)

Xoxa is a 7 year old girl who is adopted by Nunya. Before she met Nunya shockingly she wasn't a hellborn she was a sinner. Surprisingly knowing how extremely rare a child her age sent there. Her real name is Summer. She was born in America, Lived in 1999 and died in 2006.

Personality: A sweet little girl who likes to draw, loves eating candy and help Nunya with chores. She is like an angel who is loveable and kind to everyone she see- *pfft* As if. Xoxa is a mischievous kid who causes trouble to people she doesn't like and is annoyingly known to pop up randomly listen to people's conversation then ask Nunya things she shouldn't have listened to also knowing how mischievous she is she used it in her advantage to get people in trouble but will stay silent if you pay her with candy.

She is a sweet kid but if someone is mean to her , her adoptive mother Nunya or her little baby brother Dinky she will stung them with the pointer of her tail while smile innocently at them when the poison takes effect. Her poison is very dangerous unless you're an strong demon or you're a poisonous demon as well you can survive it. There is an antidote for her poison , Nunya has it... Unless she stung you while Nunya isn't anywhere close by then you're doomed.

Thankfully Nunya is not comfortable with pointless murder scolded her not to stab others but only do it in self defense. So she rarely stung others... Well when she not caught that is.

Backstory: (warning mentions on incest , child neglect and bullying)

Xoxa when she is human she is a small girl living in the small town who has a horrible home life and gets bullied by kids and adults. Why? She was born from an unplanned pregnancy from siblings incest (gross I know)

Her mother quickly uncaring gave her the name Summer since she was born on July 18 in the summer seasons just to get this over with.

Poor Xoxa/Summer was an outcast because of it and her family isn't great either seeing her nothing but a roach in their eyes ruin their family's reputation. Her parents wish she was never born so their secret relationship wouldn't be discovered.

Because of the continuing mistreatment and bullying her mental state becoming worse she snaps. During the town food festival she sneakily puts different kinds of poisons in every food she possible can causing so many people who wrong her get poison causing chaos in the town when citizens see other dead left and right from the poison.

Later that night she stole very poisonous scorpions from their neighbor's home who is a Scorpion breeder and not home helping out the issue of the food festival . She made them aggressive and dumped them everywhere in her family's house and some on the sleeping family to get them stung by the scorpion. While she is watching her family overcome by the poison her with a smile on her face one of the scorpions stung her causing her to get paralyzed, Because she is a child the poison didn't take long to end her life.

Her lack of regrets about what she did and trauma caused her to blindly attack after seeing one of the bullies made it in heaven. They have no choice but to send her to hell.

Thanks to the survival instincts when she is alive. Xoxa is able to survive long by stealing by stinging demons with her poisonous tail, It didn't kill them immediately but caused the demon body to paralyzed enough for her to pick pocket them.

But only to lower class demons she is successful to steal from them, Xoxa is still a kid. When she tried it on a stronger demon she almost didn't survive that encounter thankfully to her small size with her speed she was able to escape.

She struggles for a while to survive since lower demons rarely alone make it impossible for her to steal until one of the demons spotted her and called the group to attack her. While being attacked Xoxa was lucky safe by Nunya who was in her walk to the store seeing her getting attacked.

After Nunya dealing with the demons she has been taken in by Nunya. Because of Nunya being motherly to her that is something she doesn't have when she is alive from her real mother. She was weird out by her actions but until she talked about her past to Nunya the Nunya accepting her past and still wants adopting her made her start to enjoy the motherly attentions she lacks in her childhood.

Name: Dinky (Reason? Blame Alastor )

A baby puppy boy who is umm a hellhound???

Age: unknown since there is no information where Dinky came from but he ls more likely around 6 months old.

Personality: Dinky is a typical baby, likes to giggle , play , eat , put his mouth on anything he can grab and listen to music while sleeping even sleep in nosy environment plus explosions. The funny thing is Dinky doesn't like complete silence while sleeping. To him he thinks silence means no one's around and gets upset by crying/whimpering loudly.

When Dinky likes or is curious by someone He is known to follow them around by crawling. Don't even think walking faster away from him will help this baby can still catch up to you, Alastor has to teleport to get away from Dinky.

Backstory:

Dinky was found in the pile of trash by Xoxa from hearing his cry then she quickly went to get Nunya and was able to save him. Nunya going around tries to get information on who is doing something so very despicable of throwing a baby in the trash so she can slash them but no one has ever seen him before or ever heard of a hellhound part of this city.

So she adopted him, Nunya decided to let Xoxa name her new baby brother since she is the reason he was save.

While Xoxa is thinking of the name Nunya left to go to the backroom of the shop to help Gregory restock heavy meats. Moments later Alastor came in to buy some meat until he saw Xoxa with the baby in the scroller looking back at him with curious eyes.

Disgust to discovers that the baby is a dog but still asks what she is doing with a baby. Xoxa being suspicious of him knowing how meanie he is to their momma still tells him she was thinking of a name for her baby brother.

Alastor has an evil idea to get revenge on Nunya saying she should name him Dinky. Xoxa looks at him suspicious until Alastor explains about the D for him being a dog and inky for him being pink. Xoxa enjoys the clever name then takes it but Alastor wants her to not tell her mother knowing how much she dislikes him while Xoxa not liking to lie to Mom but agrees not to tell after her baby brother name is official in papers.

Later Nunya returns while glaring suspiciously at Alastor but begrudgingly orders his meat so he can leave. After that Xoxa told her the name meaning that Nunya approved of it. After making Dinky's name official in legal papers Xoxa then tells her the truth.

Nunya understandably upset that Xoxa lied and scolded her but was more angry at Alastor manipulate Xoxa. But she paused realizing that Alastor named Dinky, She immediately asked well demand the worker to let her use the computer to web search the name. Let's just say after discovering what the name means it's on slashing site when she sees Alastor again.

[olderthannetfic]

I am not American so this an actual question: Why do people never use those American names in writing? Kayleigh, Keinleigh, or Lakesha, Shalissa? Saw those names on real people, but no one in America uses names like that in stories? And apparently for the latter names it's racist as well, but those names are actually names people have! So what gives?

--

People absolutely use those names in writing.

White Mormons writing boring het romance novels use ones like the first two all the time.

Really, I cannot emphasize enough how annoying romance novel names are to me. The reason I wouldn't name a character these names is that they look stupid.

I also associate them with demographics of white people I rarely write about.

In fic, you'll see the occasional OFC mary sue badfic with a lead with a name like this. It just depends on the author's own milieu and what names they consider normal.

--

The latter two sound like black people from the city. If you know enough to write black people from the city, great. Much of fanfic fandom is either too white or too suburban, and US media is not kind to such characters, so there's not a lot of incentive to use such names in fanfic.

Publishing overall is very racist and so are book-buying audiences, so a lead named Lakesha will not sell well unless positioned just right. Or at least that's the theory. But it's a theory that affects what mainstream US books you're probably hearing about.

When I've lived in places with black-focused bookstores, I've occasionally run across trashy fiction for a black, urban market, usually from small indie presses that cater to a black audience. Those authors know what they're talking about and will certainly name their characters names that make sense for the setting.

For me personally, it would be hard to tell the difference between an actual name and a racist parody name someone made up. I can tell when a name "sounds black", but that's not enough knowledge to pick a name correctly.

The black people I know offline mostly do not have names like this. I think it's because they're relatively rich, live in relatively non-black areas, and face a lot of pressure to pick names white people find more comfortable. Having a "whiter" name on job applications gets you interviews you will not get with a "black" name both because of racism and classism. A lot of it is probably also regional.

If I wanted to name a character, I'd do some research and choose a relatively common name with its most common spelling for safety. 'Lakesha' can be spelled that way or 'Lakeesha', 'Lakeisha', Lakisha, or Laquisha, among others. This one's, what, Arabic originally? That and Swahili seem to be the ultimate origins of a lot of names we associate with urban black communities. There are plenty of patterns here: I just don't know what they are.

--

Basically, naming characters requires a metric fuckton of sociological knowledge and just being American isn't enough to know about every demographic in the US.

Research is perfectly possible. People do it all the time for naming characters. It's just more work than picking a type of name you already know a lot about.

And on top of that, names sometimes tell you race, class, region, etc. and people may not be writing characters for whom these names make sense.

[killed-by-choice]

LaKisha Wilson, 22 (USA 2014)

(Note: some sources use the capitalization LaKisha and some don’t. I used both in this profile of her case.)

Lakisha Wilson was the loving mother of 2-year-old Antonio. She was pregnant with her second baby in 2014 and ended up scheduled for an abortion at an Ohio abortion facility called Preterm.

She was told that she was 19 weeks pregnant, but it was later discovered that she was actually closer to 23 weeks. Either the abortion facility had been incompetent enough to misjudge the baby’s age by so much or Lakisha had been lied to. 19 weeks would put her just before the state’s legal limit for abortion in 2014, meaning that it would benefit Preterm to convince Lakisha that her baby was younger. It wouldn’t be the first time an abortion facility lied to a client to coerce them into an abortion. Lakisha wasn’t a criminal and there’s no evidence that she have agreed to an abortion if she knew her baby was past the legal limit.

Lakisha lost blood and went into shock. Records show that she was not breathing for 28 minutes.

By the time someone finally called 911, they arrived to another problem. All the operating rooms were on the third floor of the building and the elevator was broken. When paramedics finally managed to get the malfunctioning elevator to work enough to transport Lakisha, they found that the abortion facility was even less equipped for emergencies than they thought.

The only oxygen mask that Preterm had was a pediatric size (which raises some disturbing questions about how young their clients are). The little mask wasn’t giving LaKisha enough oxygen.

Unlike all of the staff at Preterm, paramedics were equipped, trained and capable of resuscitating LaKisha. She desperately needed to be intubated, but the already malfunctioning elevator was so small that they couldn’t lay LaKisha flat (which is critical for intubation). LaKisha was rushed to the hospital and put on life support.

At some point in the past LaKisha had signed a form stating that she wanted to be an organ donor, but even this selfless act would be used to thwart her chance of justice. An organ procurement company obtained the documentation needed to harvest her organs before the autopsy, despite the objections of LaKisha’s family (who were afraid that the loss of major organs would impair a forensic investigation).

Despite the loss of multiple organs before the autopsy was even started, it confirmed that LaKisha died from abortion. She bled internally and suffered from brain damage due to cardiopulmonary arrest.

And what about Lisa Perriera, the abortionist who mutilated, neglected and killed LaKisha? She was given an award by the Physicians for Reproductive Choice at a posh ceremonial New York City dinner in 2015 for enduring “adversity” during the investigation of LaKisha Wilson’s completely preventable death. She transferred to an abortion facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – a place that never heard of LaKisha Wilson – where she continued to abort babies and place women’s lives at risk, all while publicly advertising abortion as a “safe” procedure.

Instead of being held accountable for killing LaKisha Wilson, Perriera was basically promoted. The Preterm facility also remained open and later killed Tia Archeiva Parks.

(Medical Examiner’s statement)

(911 call)

[simshousewindsor]

HOUSE OF CARDS

[Buckingsim Palace, Buckingsimshire 9:14 AM WST]

James Byrd [Aide]: The Conservative party won the 2021 General Election to maintain its parliamentary majority by one house seat.

Arthur Rathers [Aide]: So, we need to put our support behind the Democrats to help them flip two seats.

James Byrd [Aide]: Your Majesty, the sims of Windenburg have not been happy with the government under Keller's leadership. It shouldn't be too difficult a task.

Veronica Peppercorn [Aide]: The Democratic Party will have quite a few engagements in those swing counties during election season. Having the Prince consort, or another senior royal attend would increase visibility for those candidates.

James Byrd [Aide]: (hesitant) We have to be careful not to show the palace as having any opinion on politics, though. That could greatly divide a nation and a new monarch. Your father knew how to tread politics brilliantly.

Queen Katherine: Whatever we need to do.

James Byrd [Aide]: Consider it done.

Queen Katherine: What else do we need to review?

- - - - - LATER - - - - -

[Bow Room, 10:03 AM WST]

Raven Covington [Student]: Your Majesty, on behalf of P.S. 117, and the kids of Children's Trust of Brindleton Bay, thank you for your generosity!

Queen Katherine: You are just too sweet!

(cameras flashing)

- - - - - LATER - - - - -

[State Dining Room, 12:42 PM WST]

Queen Katherine: (laughs) I can't read the cake!

Martin Lavelle [Private Secretary]: I thought the cake had to be upside down for the press.

Queen Katherine: So they can see it?

All: (laughter)

Queen Katherine: (laughs) I don't mind. I don't matter.

- - - - - LATER - - - - -

[12:51 PM WST]

Prince Rainier: Are you sure about the parliament thing from this morning?

Queen Katherine: I have to be. Phillip turns 13 in five years. With the election next year, now is the time to act. We can't wait four more years.

Prince Phillip: Mommy!

Queen Katherine: Hi, darling!

Prince Phillip: (excited) Kevin and I found a secret closet that leads to a toy room! We're adding more toys!

Queen Katherine: Hi Kevin! I see you two have hit it off quite nicely!

Prince Rainier: (whispers) Who is Kevin?

Queen Katherine: Be careful, boys!

Prince Rainier: I leave for Norfolk tonight.

Queen Katherine: Norfolk?

Prince Rainier: I'm opening a new conservation park, and attending the Commonwealth Forestry Society's annual gala. I'll be back in three day.

Queen Katherine: I leave for Windsor Castle in two days. I'll be there until Garter Day. Phillip goes back to Cheaves Saturday, so you should say goodbye to him now.

Martin Lavelle [P.S.]: Your Majesty, the Queen Mother is holding on your cell phone, and you have about four minutes until your next audience.

Prince Rainier: Bye, darling (kiss)

- - - - - LATER - - - - -

Queen Katherine: Hi, mommy!

Queen Rowena: (on the phone) Darling, Mother LaKisha arrives next week. Please tell me they've schedule time for you to meet with her.

Queen Katherine: You should have asked Martin! He manages my schedule. You know that, mommy!

Queen Rowena: (on the phone) I hate talking to him. Why does he answer your cell phone anyway?

Queen Katherine: I should go. I have an audience with the incoming High Commissioners.

Queen Rowena: (on the phone) Mother LaKisha, Kate! Make sure Martin adds it!

Queen Katherine: Goodbye, mother.

Previous | Beginning | Next - continue Heir Ascent (story)

Previous | Beginning | Next - continue Consort Redemption (story)

[authorlakisha]

10 Years + 1 Day

10 years + 1 day ago, my life changed.It wasn’t cute either. Instead, it was the crying, arms wrapped around your body, trying to catch your breath, I’m tired and I can’t do this on my own anymore kind of yes. See, I was outside of God’s will. Yes, I was going to church and was very good at religion. I’d gotten that thang down and was great at pretending, but I was tore up and suffering with no…

[mcdarkart]

Lil Red Devil by McDarkart Artist: Lakisha McQuany Medium: Acrylic on Primed Wood Dimensions: 20cm approx Framing: Ready to Hang Year of Creation: 2024

Here's my first valentines painting of 2024, the Lil Red Devil of love, a cheeky first instalment of art for the lovers. Painted on small wooden canvas that's easy to hang, this affordable one of a kind piece is hopefully going to find a loving forever home.

[trinityakin]

Hello, Lakisha

KILO KISH

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jyoti Madhusoodanan

Published: Nov 15, 2018

Racial bias can put people of color at a disadvantage when interviewing for a job, buying a house, or interacting with the police. New research suggests that bias may also shape daily interactions between racial minorities and white people, even those whites who tend to be less biased.

According to new research by Cydney Dupree, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Yale SOM, white liberals tend to downplay their own verbal competence in exchanges with racial minorities, compared to how other white Americans act in such exchanges. The study is scheduled for publication in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

While many previous studies have examined how people who hold racial bias behave in multi-racial settings, few have studied how whites who are more well-intentioned interact with people of other races. “There’s less work that explores how well-intentioned whites try to get along with racial minorities,” Dupree says. “We wanted to know their strategies for increasing connections between members of different social groups—and how effective these strategies are.”

Dupree and her co-author, Susan Fiske of Princeton University, began by analyzing the words used in campaign speeches delivered by Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to different audiences over the years. They scanned 74 speeches delivered by white candidates over a 25-year period. Approximately half were addressed to mostly-minority audiences—at a Hispanic small business roundtable discussion or a black church, for example. They then paired each speech delivered to a mostly-minority audience with a comparable speech delivered at a mostly-white audience—at a mostly-white church or university, for example. The researchers analyzed the text of these speeches for two measures: words related to competence (that is, words about ability or status, such as “assertive” or “competitive”) and words related to warmth (that is, words about friendliness, such as “supportive” and “compassionate”).

Warmth, related to intentions towards others, and competence, related to the ability to carry out those intentions, are two fundamental dimensions of how we see others and portray ourselves in social interactions. Stereotypical portrayals of black Americans generally show them as being less competent than their white counterparts, but not necessarily less friendly or warm, Dupree explains.

The team found that Democratic candidates used fewer competence-related words in speeches delivered to mostly minority audiences than they did in speeches delivered to mostly white audiences. The difference wasn’t statistically significant in speeches by Republican candidates, though “it was harder to find speeches from Republicans delivered to minority audiences,” Dupree notes. There was no difference in Democrats’ or Republicans’ usage of words related to warmth. “It was really surprising to see that for nearly three decades, Democratic presidential candidates have been engaging in this predicted behavior.”

With this preliminary evidence in hand, the researchers set out to further test their ideas.

“My hope is that this work will help include well-intentioned people who see themselves as allies but who may be unwittingly contributing to group divides.”

They designed a series of experiments in which white participants were asked to respond to a hypothetical or presumed-real interaction partner. For half of these participants, their partner was given a stereotypically white name (such as “Emily”); for the other half, their partner was given a stereotypically black name (such as “Lakisha”). Participants were asked to select from a list of words for an email to their partner. For some studies, this email was for a work-related task; for others, this email was simply to introduce themselves. Each word had been previously scored on how warm or competent it appears. The word “sad,” for example, scored low for both warmth and competence. “Melancholy,” on the other hand, scored high for competence and low on warmth.

Participant also completed a variety of measures that assessed how liberal they were.

The researchers found that liberal individuals were less likely to use words that would make them appear highly competent when the person they were addressing was presumed to be black rather than white. No significant differences were seen in the word selection of conservatives based on the presumed race of their partner. “It was kind of an unpleasant surprise to see this subtle but persistent effect,” Dupree says. “Even if it’s ultimately well-intentioned, it could be seen as patronizing.”

Dupree and Fiske suspect that the behavior stems from a liberal person’s desire to connect with other races. One possible reason for the “competence downshift,” as the authors describe it, is that, regardless of race, people tend to downplay their competence when they want to appear likeable and friendly. But it’s also possible that “this is happening because people are using common stereotypes in an effort to get along,” Dupree says.

Initial data from follow-up studies suggest that describing a black person as highly intelligent, thus reversing the stereotype, or as already highly motivated to get along with whites, thus removing the need to prove goodwill, can reduce the likelihood that a white person will downplay their competence in their interactions with the black person.

Now, Dupree is working to understand how these behaviors play out in real-world organizations: for example, whether medical professionals engage in this behavior when interacting with minority patients and how corporate executives present themselves to minority peers. She is also testing the efficacy of this possibly strategic behavior: for example, do black receivers of white liberals’ competence downshift see this behavior as demeaning or endearing?

“There’s a lot of research focused on biased individuals and how holding bias, especially implicit bias, can influence social interactions,” Dupree says. “But that leaves a lot of people out. My hope is that this work will help include well-intentioned people who see themselves as allies but who may be unwittingly contributing to group divides. There is a broader need to include them in the conversation.”

--

Self-Presentation in Interracial Settings: The Competence Downshift by White Liberals

Abstract

Most Whites, particularly socio-political liberals, now endorse racial equality. Archival and experimental research reveals a subtle but reliable ironic consequence: White liberals self-present less competence to minorities than to other Whites-that is, they patronize minorities stereotyped as lower status and less competent. In an initial archival demonstration of the competence downshift, Study 1 examined the content of White Republican and Democratic presidential candidates' campaign speeches. Although Republican candidates did not significantly shift language based on audience racial composition, Democratic candidates used less competence-related language to minority audiences than to White audiences. Across five experiments (total N = 2,157), White participants responded to a Black or White hypothetical (Studies 2, 3, 4, S1) or ostensibly real (Study 5) interaction partner. Three indicators of self-presentation converged: sophistication of vocabulary selected for an assignment, competence-related traits selected for an introduction, and competence-related content of brief, open-ended introductions. Conservatism indicators included: self-reported political affiliation (liberal-conservative), Right-Wing Authoritarianism (values-based conservatism) and Social Dominance Orientation (hierarchy-based conservatism). Internal meta-analyses revealed that liberals- but not conservatives-presented less competence to Black interaction partners than to White ones. The simple effect was small but significant across studies, and most reliable for the self-reported measure of conservatism. This possibly unintentional but ultimately patronizing competence-downshift suggests that well-intentioned liberal Whites may draw on low-status/competence stereotypes to affiliate with minorities.

[..]

General Discussion

Five studies found preliminary evidence that White liberals (but not conservatives) present less competence to a Black (versus White) interaction partner. The competence downshift emerged among self-identified Democrats in Study 1, self-reported liberals in Studies 2 and 3, values-based liberals (i.e., low-RWA Whites) in Study 3, and hierarchy-based liberals (i.e., low-SDO Whites) in Study 5. These liberal Whites presented significantly less competence to a Black interaction partner than they did to a White interaction partner. Specifically, these White liberals presented less competence (Studies 2 and 3) and used fewer competence-related words (Studies 1 and 5) when responding with a Black interaction partner than with a White one. While liberals also tended to describe themselves as less competent in Study 4, though this effect did not reach significance (ps > .115). Across all studies, shifts in White conservatives' self-presentation of competence did not reach significance (see Study S1 for an exception, wherein conservatives engaged in a competence upshift). Ultimately, White liberals were more likely than White conservatives to present less competence to a Black (versus White) interaction partner.

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As usual, I object to the use of the American usage of "liberal" here; what they mean is left-wing "progressives." Although treating black people like imbeciles is particularly regressive.