There is a lot of talk about what kinds of memes or turns of phrase are racist - "socialist?" "That One?" etc. - but what does it really mean to say that political groups are playing the race card or engaging in dog whistle politics?  Does it mean that the message is intentional?  That it is a secret call out to a cadre of hard-core racists?  If a message has racial implications in one instance, does it always?

These are hard questions to answer, and while it is encouraging that, twenty years after Willie Horton, the media is paying more careful attention to race in the elections, the discussion has often been less than illuminating - often a back and forth of accusations and denials of racist intention. 

Like the "Willie Horton" ad of twenty years ago, the most effective messages that play on racism do it in ways that we mostly do not notice.  It isn't a code to be heard only by unrepentant racists - it's a clever psychological trick to play on the unconscious racial attitudes that most of us hold, but few of us are conscious of. 

Want to know more about how it works?  Join us on Thursday, October 30, 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) for a free conference call on race in electoral politics. The call will give an overview of scientific research on implicit bias, a history of how political groups have used it to manipulate us, and some examples of how these tactics are being employed now, how they will continue to corrode our political life, and begin to talk about how to stop that corrosion.

Click here to RSVP for the call.