For 30+ years The Institute For "Interracial" Harmony, Incorporated (“IIH”) has been in existence as an organization educating the public as to the myriad of ways we all have been conditioned by society’s racism/colorism.
"Prejudice Is Learned:It Can Be Unlearned" is our Motto, reflective of our sustained campaign to prevent, counteract and heal pervasive institutionalized racism/colorism which continues to erode the fabric of our society and causes individuals to actually lose their lives (especially with the racist/colorist death penalty). For America, and, for that matter, the world, to become more effective in dealing with humanity, the healing we do on a local level must be expanded to embrace everyone. Carol Taylor, founder of the IIH, invented the concept of racism/colorism-testing (including the very term "colorism") with the Racism/Colorism Quotient Test (“RQ Test”), which Dr. Mari Saunders, Ph.D. then developed. We have also constructed the Racism/Colorism Quotient Test Program with Follow-up Discussion (in a non-threatening atmosphere) and have administered it to members of the public, classes of students, a college President, the Director of a Sociology Department, New York State Supreme Court judges, a Human Rights Commission, MultiCultural Advisory Committees (See our AllColor Report 2000), newspapers, including The Village Voice 1992 - where fully one third of the (international) 4000 liberal-readership respondents were found to be dysfunctional in their responses to skin color and cultural differences. Our role has been, and continues to be, spearheading our attempts to promote consciousness-raising about the need for prevention of color discrimination and the promotion of healing pathological responses to color and cultural differences. Long before Carol Taylor became the First Black U.S. Flight Attendant, breaking the color barrier of U.S. airlines, she saw the need for social change with respect to valuing the content of a person's character and respecting the form in which that character is cloaked.
We continue to build (with out-of-pocket personal monies and in spare time) The Institute For "Interracial" Harmony, Inc. (the quotation marks are used because there is only one race - the human one - but many colors and cultures and there is no 's' at the end of the word 'race,' so there is no meaning to words such as "interracial," "bi-racial," "trans-racial," "multi-racial,"{ did you see that category in the new Census?} "people of different races," or "out of his/her race!") We further developed the concept of testing individuals in non-threatening arenas (RQ Test) as a catalytic tool to, as Law Professor Dr. Lani Guinier has said, "...put the issue of racism [colorism] on the front burner in America to be able to deal with it in a forthright manner."
Our major challenge is communicating the dire need for our nation to end the epidemic denial of the deleterious effects of racism/colorism (like 'racial' - we call it 'color'-profiling) and conveying the fact that our Racism/Colorism Quotient Test Program (with follow-up discussion) is a compelling solution to the problem which affects every area of people activity.
A book, detailing our work, will be published soon and The Racism/Colorism Quotient Test is currently available on the Internet at www.racismtest.com. Finally, we must ensure that every school, education organization, political and social group, can recognize how its individuals, through no fault of their own, have been conditioned by an institutionally racist/colorist society. Our proven methodology for introducing positive change in their lives is now readily available so that we can expand the healing, help to remove the 'blame' syndrome and prevent people from losing their lives and their jobs, (alcoholics can no longer be fired if they accept counseling)) by encouraging corporations to offer our RQ Test and Follow-up Discussion Program (for dysfunctional responses to color and cultural differences) instead of costly dismissals.
Dr. Mari P. Saunders is a Clinical Psychopathologist and Therapist, former Staff at the Urban League, Addicts Rehabilitations Center and in private practice in New York City. She received a Bachelor's and two Master's degrees at City College, CUNY and her Doctorate in Urban Psychology from Fordham University. She was formerly a faculty member at Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York as a Clinical Counselor. She is the author of numerous articles published in ESSENCE, MAHOGANY and HORIZON magazines and a former columnist for CARIBBEAT newspaper. She has appeared on several radio and TV talk shows including Sally Jessy Raphael, Rolonda Watts, Jean Parr, and she hosted her own TELEQUEST radio program on WMCA in 1983. She is the psychological mentor and co-founder of the Institute for "Interracial" Harmony, Inc., and has lectured on the subjects of racism/colorism and intimate relationships at many colleges and universities throughout the United States through the Program Corporation of America. She is a member of MENSA, Phi Delta Kappa and Fordham University Alumni Association. She currently resides in New York City.
Carol Taylor R.N., President/Founder of The Institute for "Interracial" Harmony, Incorporated, she invented the concept of Racism/Colorism Quotient Testing individuals. She was the First Black U.S. Flight Attendant, is the author of The Little Black Book: Black Male Survival in America: Staying Alive & Well in an Institutionally Racist Society. She has consistently struggled against what she calls 'untreated racism/colorism' for decades and is committed to healing society of its widespread denial of conditioned discrimination against human beings so that all people, especially the children, may have the opportunity of living in communities free of being adversely judged on the basis of their color.
Laurence W. Legall is a data analysis expert and currently advises on and develops Affirmative Action plans for some of America's largest Fortune 500 companies. His experience with organizing Affirmative Action Plans and Diversity Programs is extensive. He sat as Chair and Information Officer to the United Nations NGO December 12th coalition to organize and draft an extensive report on "Racism/Colorism and Its Impact on the Black African American Community and People of Color," which was submitted to the United Nations World Conference Against Racism and Xenophobia in 2001. He has published many articles addressing racism/colorism in American society and has worked with the United Nations Chief Officer of Information for the UNICEF Emergency Relief Newspaper.