Vedana of Bias: Latent Likes and Dislikes Fuelling Barriers to Human Connection

Abstract

Our eyes are the windows to our world. In the United States, our eyes also become the windows to the quality and depth of connection between two human beings. Deeply imprinted within the American mind is the story of race. This story continues to consciously and unconsciously determine how Americans perceive, reason, remember and make decisions with respect to human relations. For example, 63 years after the seminal decision Brown v. Board of Education that ended legalised segregation in American schools, over 75 per cent of White Americans have zero friends of colour, and two-thirds of Black Americans have zero White friends. While much has been written about systems and structures that create such realities, this paper aims to delve deeper into the role of vedanā in creating such interpersonal and system-wide realities. The paper will further comment on how feeling tones associated with the myth of different races continue play a role in the opportunities and experiences of differently hued human beings in American society.