How Racist are Internet Searches in Western Colorado?
A recent study of an internet search term identifies areas in the US that are more racist than others. How does Western Colorado rate?
Before you go off the deep end about how racist people living in Colorado are or aren't, understand the study, conducted by PLOS One, focused on Google searches containing the "N-word" in the context of a racial slur.
The results shown in a graphic of the continental US doesn't mark states or cities, so finding some geographic regions may be difficult.
Thankfully, our state is large and finding the area we define as Western Colorado doesn't take a lot of effort.
So how do we rate? According to the map, people are from less than average to much than less than average to be racist, at least when it comes to internet searches of a specific racial slur.
While interesting, the study uses racism as more of a measurement of how it plays a part in the health and mortality of blacks in America.
It's complex and most people probably won't want to spend time completely reading and understanding the results. Summarized, the more an area is racist, the higher the incidents of health issues and death.
Ultimately, the PLOS study provides an interesting snapshot of racism and its effects. Personally, I take it more as a tidbit of information and not the big picture of racism in Colorado or anywhere else in the country.
The study, even as a small piece of American racism, indicates people in Western Colorado are less racist than the average person in the US. That, we can be proud of.