"Keith" Ellison Gets a Pass?

It may be the hope Keith Ellison holds out for the Muslim American community that propels him into Congress in November as the first Muslim to do ever do so in American history. But his name – or lack of a particular kind – will likely give him and fellow Muslims counting on his success an advantage perhaps not enjoyed by too many others.

Sometimes a name is enough. A recent ABC News report confirms once again something known in the academic world for at least a couple of years: that racial discrimination does not require a visual inspection of skin color. While ABC's work was decidedly (and predictably) less scholarly than studies by Bertrand & Mullainathan in 2003 or Fryer & Levitt in 2005, it confirms those results.

The name "Keith" didn't make ABCs list of most popular white, black or Latino names, but the fact that it would likely appear somewhere on the white list – even the black list for that matter (but certainly not on an Arab list), will save him a world of perceptive hurt in the upcoming election. This is especially so among Minnesota voters for whom the issue of terrorism is most salient. And, according to The Bush Drag, a recent opinion study by U. of Minnesota's Center for the Study of Politics & Governance, this number is significant.

Ellison, who converted to Islam while he was an undergraduate, is running as the Democratic candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 5th District (Minneapolis). He has been clear about how his faith is a guiding force for his politics. And it seems Muslim Americans from across the country are eager to pony up campaign cash knowing only that he's a fellow Muslim.

In post-9/11 America, while it is unlikely that even the most progressive district would elect someone named Mohammed, let alone Osama, Ellison will most likely win. (Though it won't be without scrapes: his opponents and critics are interested in linking him with Louis Farrakhan and Hamas, as well as well as trying to "Arabize" his name. The headline of a recent post at Lake Minnetonka is an example).

All of this has a lot to do with the fact that language powerful, and names are perceived as indicators of character. The work by Bertrand & Mullainathan shows that when names that "sound" white and names that "sound" black are randomly assigned to identical resumes and sent to real job openings, the fake white candidates get 50% more callbacks than the fake black candidates do. They note that a white name is the equivalent of eight additional years of experience. Fryer & Levitt found that this phenomenon was related more toward the employers' perception of socioeconomic status than race. In either case, it is clear that racism is not a relic of the past, but rather is firmly entrenched into our belief systems (even if they are not reflected in our conscious attitudes). As a result, our behavior is affected, often without us even realizing it. Take a few of the tests offered by Banaji and colleagues at Harvard for confirmation of your own biases (NOTE: We've both taken some of them, and we're not particularly proud of our results either.)

So what's in a name? For Keith Ellison, quite possibly the difference between fifty percent and fifty percent plus one of the votes come election day.