This 32-tweet story points out how clueless studies on black people can be

By Fusion Staff  |  April 8, 2016 | 2:06pm
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Every once in a while, you might come across a scientific study that proves things you already know to be true.

This study, for example, found that professional athletes should drink more water. Another found that exercise is good for you, and there are plenty more where that came from.

These can be funny, but they can also reveal an apparent cluelessness by researchers about society at large. In a collection of tweets, Harvard Law School student Jonathan Wall pointed out that a number of studies that attempt to codify the experiences of black Americans produce findings that are extremely obvious.

https://twitter.com/imfromraleigh/status/718072955142586368

Like, offensively obvious. Over the course of an hour, Wall was able to point out 32 of these studies touted by a variety of sources, from researchers at Stanford to those at the National Institutes of Health:

Wall concluded with an off-the-cuff “study” of his own:

And commented on how superfluous it is to quantify racism:

Science, technology, engineering and medical fields—which drive the type of research that would produce these studies—are overwhelmingly white, so it’s hard not to see these headlines as evidence of a narrow perspective.

Either way, the studies and their existence nods heavily to how real white privilege is in America. But we already knew that.

Danielle Wiener-Bronner is a news reporter.

 
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