Everyone is a racist.
No, really - it's been scientifically proven. (For some examples, check out this article, and also this article.)
Even liberal activists who would never consciously or purposefully utter a racist slur or generalize groups of people; even people who belong to minority groups themselves - everyone is prey to implicit bias and unconscious racism. We subliminally pick up on stereotypes portrayed in the media, or inherit knowledge of those stereotypes from others around us, and they sink in to our subconscious. We would never admit them aloud; we often don't even know they're there at all - and if we do (temporarily) know, you better bet we pretend not to.
For example, the stereotype that black men are inherently more dangerous or threatening than men of other races. Most of don't believe that's actually true at all, and will explicitly and publicly denounce such stereotypes as misguided at best, horribly racist at worst. But how many times have those same people kept a bit more distance between themselves and a stranger who happens to be black than they would an identical stranger with lighter skin? It's not a behavior that we even realize we do, but we do it. If we were to be confronted with the reality of this implicit bias that's just manifested itself, we might deny it, or try to make excuses.
This article has a great definition of implicit bias: "Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual's awareness or intentional control. Residing deep in the subconscious, these biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to conceal for the purposes of social and/or political correctness. Rather, implicit biases are not accessible through introspection."
It goes on to say that implicit biases are pervasive: "Everyone possesses them, even people with avowed commitments to impartiality such as judges." Furthermore, "the implicit associations we hold do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs or even reflect stances we would explicitly endorse."
Another great article (yes, one that I already linked above - but it's just that good that it warrants linking again) takes that last idea even further, and says: "We bury [implicit bias] deep in the subconscious in layers of denial to protect our social reputation. We might explicitly deny our internal reactions, but implicitly we follow their whispered mandates."
The real problem is that implicit bias can be just as dangerous as explicit bias. You don't have to be an uber racist, vocal neo-Nazi/alt-right/white supremacist type for your racism to harm people. You don't have to intend harm to cause it.
If you're not on board with me so far, the rest of this post is not for you. This post is for people who are open-minded, self-reflective, and willing to admit things that might make them uncomfortable. I am also making other assumptions about the type of person you are - namely, that you're generally tolerant and "woke," and that you don't want to be racist (or that you want to find a way to be as least racist as it is possible to be). You also already understand what implicit bias is, how harmful it can be, and that everyone has some of it (including yourself). If that sounds like you, keep reading.
In my unprofessional opinion (but as someone who has given a fair bit of thought to this, in an abstract way), here are some things that we need to focus on in order to dismantle some of the implicit, unconscious bias we have:
1) Recognize where your personal implicit biases lie. This isn't easy, because they're not biases we actually believe in, or ones that we're usually aware of. But when something from your subconscious "breaks away" into your awareness, take the time to acknowledge it. Did you just catch yourself crossing the street when a black man approached? Were you describing a scene you witnessed to a friend and heard yourself referring to a non-white by race - where you didn't see any reason to indicate the race of the white people in your story? Did you have a nightmare where a stranger was invading your home, or threatening your family - and this dream villain was the only person in the dream of another race? They don't even have to be "negative" associations - maybe you found yourself asking your Asian friends to be study partners for an upcoming math test, or wanting to be picked to be on a team with the tall black kids during a pick-up game of basketball.
Whenever you recognize a moment of implicit bias coming forward like that - don't ignore it. Take the time to acknowledge what happened, to self-reflect and unpack where that gut reaction came from and if you've ever had a similar gut reaction in a similar situation before. Maybe even write it down. Keep a list, or write a journal entry. If you feel comfortable talking to your friends about it, ask them if they've had similar experiences. Follow the train of thought and extrapolate how your snap judgment could have been harmful to the others around you who witnessed it - especially if it was a seemingly inoccuous bias, or one that could be spun in a positive way (i.e. "All Asians are smart!" or "All black men are good athletes!"). Even "positive" stereotypes like these are harmful - because they lump everyone together to make incorrect assumptions, thus alienating anyone of those groups who doesn't fit the idea of what a member of that group should be good at, and because they might attribute a good quality to a group at the expense of other groups. If all Asians are inherently smart - does that mean other races are inherently dumber?
2) Don't shame yourself. This can be difficult for a lot of us (if the rather small sample size of me and my perfectionist friends and family are any indication). We don't want to be racist, and then we witness ourselves thinking racist thoughts. Even if they are something we had literally no conscious control over, we might find a way to blame ourselves for our mistake. We feel guilty and ashamed. This is understandable. You might even argue that it's the proper reaction - because if we recognize it was wrong, and that we are to blame, we're more likely to fix it, right?
Actually no. In my experience, the more we shame ourselves for something, the more likely we are to bury it and insist that it's not a problem. The shame makes us feel bad, so we avoid reflecting on it or doing anything to take concrete steps to make sure it doesn't happen as often - which then means when we inevitably slip up again, we'll be even more ashamed, and so on, until we've created a shame circle that just gets worse and worse and spirals us into depression or anxiety. Furthermore, the harsher we are on ourselves, the harder it is to see the positive attributes we have, and the harder it is to have confidence in ourselves to change. If we focus only on the negatives and beat ourselves up over our shortcomings, over and over again, everything will start to seem impossible - and once you're in that defeatist mindset, it's really hard to find the motivation to work toward any positive change. We might also start to believe we don't deserve to succeed in that positive change - we get stuck in this mindset of, "I said/did a bad thing, and that makes me a bad person, and as a bad person I am not capable of being a better person, or deserving of being seen as a better person, and anyone who forgives me for my mistakes is being too nice to me, nicer to me than I deserve."
3) Don't pass the buck, either. It's decidedly unhelpful to get stuck in those shame cycles mentioned above - but it's equally as unhelpful to try washing your hands of the whole thing. You alone are not to blame - but as a society, as humans, we are. It's a collective effort, and that means we're all a part of the problem - and the solution. The trick is to find a way to balance these two responses. You have to recognize your (probably minuscule) part in contributing to systems of oppression and discrimination and make efforts to change, while at the same time allowing yourself to be imperfect.
I think the best way is to approach it as a learning opportunity. It might sound silly, but it will probably help if think of yourself as a friend you're talking to, or even a young child who just needs a bit of guidance. I know I'm always quicker and harsher to pass judgment on myself than on others, and I bet some of you are too. If you overheard your good friend say something that sounded surprisingly racist, would your first instinct be to disavow that long, solid friendship? Probably not. You would assume she "didn't actually mean" what she said, and ignore the problem. Even better, you might gently talk to her and figure out if she realizes what she said and how bad it sounded. Similarly, if you saw a child have a reaction that clearly came from implicit bias (i.e. trusting a white stranger more than a black stranger), it would be a better idea to talk to him about his behaviors and thought processes than to let the opportunity for learning pass, just because you know he "didn't mean it."
So when you recognize yourself falling into prematurely labeling people or making assumptions based on stereotypes, call yourself out on it and face it head on. Allow yourself the luxury of being human (all humans make mistakes sometimes), but still make sure to think through what happened and reflect on what a better response might have been instead. Soon enough, you'll find yourself being more aware of implicit bias - which in turn will make you more likely to recognize it before it happens, and to start correcting for it so it doesn't happen as much.
4) Don't shame other people. Maybe you're more likely to judge others harsher than yourself. In that case, treat others with the same respect you allow yourself. Accusing someone of acting in a racist fashion is not going to put them in a receptive mood to really self-reflect and figure out what happened or why. If you want to talk to someone about examples of their implicit bias you've witnessed, think long and hard about the best way to do it. Maybe bring it up at a later date, or be prepared to offer some examples of times you had a similar reaction and then immediately regretted it. You can bond over your shared mistakes, and come up with some solutions of what you could have done or said instead.
5) But also don't let other people get away with implicit bias. Remember how I said you have to find a balance between allowing yourself to make mistakes/forgiving yourself for the mistakes you do make, yet still taking responsibility for your inadvertent racism? Same goes for other people. They might need some (gentle) assistance in realizing they've said or done something racist - and you might be the only one in the room to notice this fact. If you don't speak up, the perpetrator and the other people in the room who witnessed it might never recognize that something problematic even happened. You don't have to make a big thing about it - and in fact it might be a better idea not to (see point #4, above). It can be as simple as saying, "Did you realize you started walking faster once that black man turned the corner and came into view?" or "I know you didn't mean that the way it came out. What did you actually mean to say?" You'll help them be more diligent in observing their own slip-ups, and make sure everyone around you knows that you won't stand for racist behavior, whether it was intentional or not.
In a similar vein, if someone says a racist joke, don't laugh. If you find yourself laughing inadvertently, make sure you follow up with: "I'm only laughing because that joke actually made me really uncomfortable - and not in a good way." If someone starts defending their joke ("It was just a joke; I didn't mean it" or "I didn't make it up myself; I'm just repeating it"), ask them: "Would you have told that joke in mixed company?" If they wouldn't say the joke in front of a black person, for fear of offending them, why would they think it's okay to say the joke in front of white people? We should all be offended when we hear racist comments - not just the comments that apply to our race.
I know all of this advice is "easier said than done." Don't expect to recognize every time some of your implicit bias shows, or to feel comfortable pointing out when someone else's does. Allow yourself to understand that this - like so many things in life - is a learning process. Progress is going to be gradual, and maybe not even noticeable. You're going to make the same exact error in judgment at age 60 that you did at age 20. This doesn't mean you're failing. It just means you're human. They're called implicit and unconscious biases for a reason. You're not aware of them until it is too late, and because they're embedded into our unconsciousness they're also really hard to successfully eradicate them - and keep them out. Don't expect yourself to be better than everyone else. You will not reach an unattainable level of "racistlessness." Literally everyone is a racist. That means that you're not exempt from the problem. It also means that you're not exempt from the solution.
If we all just put in a little bit of effort to be more aware of the things we do and say, and to be kind to our fellow human beings, wouldn't this world be a much better place?
No, really - it's been scientifically proven. (For some examples, check out this article, and also this article.)
Even liberal activists who would never consciously or purposefully utter a racist slur or generalize groups of people; even people who belong to minority groups themselves - everyone is prey to implicit bias and unconscious racism. We subliminally pick up on stereotypes portrayed in the media, or inherit knowledge of those stereotypes from others around us, and they sink in to our subconscious. We would never admit them aloud; we often don't even know they're there at all - and if we do (temporarily) know, you better bet we pretend not to.
For example, the stereotype that black men are inherently more dangerous or threatening than men of other races. Most of don't believe that's actually true at all, and will explicitly and publicly denounce such stereotypes as misguided at best, horribly racist at worst. But how many times have those same people kept a bit more distance between themselves and a stranger who happens to be black than they would an identical stranger with lighter skin? It's not a behavior that we even realize we do, but we do it. If we were to be confronted with the reality of this implicit bias that's just manifested itself, we might deny it, or try to make excuses.
This article has a great definition of implicit bias: "Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual's awareness or intentional control. Residing deep in the subconscious, these biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to conceal for the purposes of social and/or political correctness. Rather, implicit biases are not accessible through introspection."
It goes on to say that implicit biases are pervasive: "Everyone possesses them, even people with avowed commitments to impartiality such as judges." Furthermore, "the implicit associations we hold do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs or even reflect stances we would explicitly endorse."
Another great article (yes, one that I already linked above - but it's just that good that it warrants linking again) takes that last idea even further, and says: "We bury [implicit bias] deep in the subconscious in layers of denial to protect our social reputation. We might explicitly deny our internal reactions, but implicitly we follow their whispered mandates."
The real problem is that implicit bias can be just as dangerous as explicit bias. You don't have to be an uber racist, vocal neo-Nazi/alt-right/white supremacist type for your racism to harm people. You don't have to intend harm to cause it.
If you're not on board with me so far, the rest of this post is not for you. This post is for people who are open-minded, self-reflective, and willing to admit things that might make them uncomfortable. I am also making other assumptions about the type of person you are - namely, that you're generally tolerant and "woke," and that you don't want to be racist (or that you want to find a way to be as least racist as it is possible to be). You also already understand what implicit bias is, how harmful it can be, and that everyone has some of it (including yourself). If that sounds like you, keep reading.
In my unprofessional opinion (but as someone who has given a fair bit of thought to this, in an abstract way), here are some things that we need to focus on in order to dismantle some of the implicit, unconscious bias we have:
1) Recognize where your personal implicit biases lie. This isn't easy, because they're not biases we actually believe in, or ones that we're usually aware of. But when something from your subconscious "breaks away" into your awareness, take the time to acknowledge it. Did you just catch yourself crossing the street when a black man approached? Were you describing a scene you witnessed to a friend and heard yourself referring to a non-white by race - where you didn't see any reason to indicate the race of the white people in your story? Did you have a nightmare where a stranger was invading your home, or threatening your family - and this dream villain was the only person in the dream of another race? They don't even have to be "negative" associations - maybe you found yourself asking your Asian friends to be study partners for an upcoming math test, or wanting to be picked to be on a team with the tall black kids during a pick-up game of basketball.
Whenever you recognize a moment of implicit bias coming forward like that - don't ignore it. Take the time to acknowledge what happened, to self-reflect and unpack where that gut reaction came from and if you've ever had a similar gut reaction in a similar situation before. Maybe even write it down. Keep a list, or write a journal entry. If you feel comfortable talking to your friends about it, ask them if they've had similar experiences. Follow the train of thought and extrapolate how your snap judgment could have been harmful to the others around you who witnessed it - especially if it was a seemingly inoccuous bias, or one that could be spun in a positive way (i.e. "All Asians are smart!" or "All black men are good athletes!"). Even "positive" stereotypes like these are harmful - because they lump everyone together to make incorrect assumptions, thus alienating anyone of those groups who doesn't fit the idea of what a member of that group should be good at, and because they might attribute a good quality to a group at the expense of other groups. If all Asians are inherently smart - does that mean other races are inherently dumber?
2) Don't shame yourself. This can be difficult for a lot of us (if the rather small sample size of me and my perfectionist friends and family are any indication). We don't want to be racist, and then we witness ourselves thinking racist thoughts. Even if they are something we had literally no conscious control over, we might find a way to blame ourselves for our mistake. We feel guilty and ashamed. This is understandable. You might even argue that it's the proper reaction - because if we recognize it was wrong, and that we are to blame, we're more likely to fix it, right?
Actually no. In my experience, the more we shame ourselves for something, the more likely we are to bury it and insist that it's not a problem. The shame makes us feel bad, so we avoid reflecting on it or doing anything to take concrete steps to make sure it doesn't happen as often - which then means when we inevitably slip up again, we'll be even more ashamed, and so on, until we've created a shame circle that just gets worse and worse and spirals us into depression or anxiety. Furthermore, the harsher we are on ourselves, the harder it is to see the positive attributes we have, and the harder it is to have confidence in ourselves to change. If we focus only on the negatives and beat ourselves up over our shortcomings, over and over again, everything will start to seem impossible - and once you're in that defeatist mindset, it's really hard to find the motivation to work toward any positive change. We might also start to believe we don't deserve to succeed in that positive change - we get stuck in this mindset of, "I said/did a bad thing, and that makes me a bad person, and as a bad person I am not capable of being a better person, or deserving of being seen as a better person, and anyone who forgives me for my mistakes is being too nice to me, nicer to me than I deserve."
3) Don't pass the buck, either. It's decidedly unhelpful to get stuck in those shame cycles mentioned above - but it's equally as unhelpful to try washing your hands of the whole thing. You alone are not to blame - but as a society, as humans, we are. It's a collective effort, and that means we're all a part of the problem - and the solution. The trick is to find a way to balance these two responses. You have to recognize your (probably minuscule) part in contributing to systems of oppression and discrimination and make efforts to change, while at the same time allowing yourself to be imperfect.
I think the best way is to approach it as a learning opportunity. It might sound silly, but it will probably help if think of yourself as a friend you're talking to, or even a young child who just needs a bit of guidance. I know I'm always quicker and harsher to pass judgment on myself than on others, and I bet some of you are too. If you overheard your good friend say something that sounded surprisingly racist, would your first instinct be to disavow that long, solid friendship? Probably not. You would assume she "didn't actually mean" what she said, and ignore the problem. Even better, you might gently talk to her and figure out if she realizes what she said and how bad it sounded. Similarly, if you saw a child have a reaction that clearly came from implicit bias (i.e. trusting a white stranger more than a black stranger), it would be a better idea to talk to him about his behaviors and thought processes than to let the opportunity for learning pass, just because you know he "didn't mean it."
So when you recognize yourself falling into prematurely labeling people or making assumptions based on stereotypes, call yourself out on it and face it head on. Allow yourself the luxury of being human (all humans make mistakes sometimes), but still make sure to think through what happened and reflect on what a better response might have been instead. Soon enough, you'll find yourself being more aware of implicit bias - which in turn will make you more likely to recognize it before it happens, and to start correcting for it so it doesn't happen as much.
4) Don't shame other people. Maybe you're more likely to judge others harsher than yourself. In that case, treat others with the same respect you allow yourself. Accusing someone of acting in a racist fashion is not going to put them in a receptive mood to really self-reflect and figure out what happened or why. If you want to talk to someone about examples of their implicit bias you've witnessed, think long and hard about the best way to do it. Maybe bring it up at a later date, or be prepared to offer some examples of times you had a similar reaction and then immediately regretted it. You can bond over your shared mistakes, and come up with some solutions of what you could have done or said instead.
5) But also don't let other people get away with implicit bias. Remember how I said you have to find a balance between allowing yourself to make mistakes/forgiving yourself for the mistakes you do make, yet still taking responsibility for your inadvertent racism? Same goes for other people. They might need some (gentle) assistance in realizing they've said or done something racist - and you might be the only one in the room to notice this fact. If you don't speak up, the perpetrator and the other people in the room who witnessed it might never recognize that something problematic even happened. You don't have to make a big thing about it - and in fact it might be a better idea not to (see point #4, above). It can be as simple as saying, "Did you realize you started walking faster once that black man turned the corner and came into view?" or "I know you didn't mean that the way it came out. What did you actually mean to say?" You'll help them be more diligent in observing their own slip-ups, and make sure everyone around you knows that you won't stand for racist behavior, whether it was intentional or not.
In a similar vein, if someone says a racist joke, don't laugh. If you find yourself laughing inadvertently, make sure you follow up with: "I'm only laughing because that joke actually made me really uncomfortable - and not in a good way." If someone starts defending their joke ("It was just a joke; I didn't mean it" or "I didn't make it up myself; I'm just repeating it"), ask them: "Would you have told that joke in mixed company?" If they wouldn't say the joke in front of a black person, for fear of offending them, why would they think it's okay to say the joke in front of white people? We should all be offended when we hear racist comments - not just the comments that apply to our race.
I know all of this advice is "easier said than done." Don't expect to recognize every time some of your implicit bias shows, or to feel comfortable pointing out when someone else's does. Allow yourself to understand that this - like so many things in life - is a learning process. Progress is going to be gradual, and maybe not even noticeable. You're going to make the same exact error in judgment at age 60 that you did at age 20. This doesn't mean you're failing. It just means you're human. They're called implicit and unconscious biases for a reason. You're not aware of them until it is too late, and because they're embedded into our unconsciousness they're also really hard to successfully eradicate them - and keep them out. Don't expect yourself to be better than everyone else. You will not reach an unattainable level of "racistlessness." Literally everyone is a racist. That means that you're not exempt from the problem. It also means that you're not exempt from the solution.
If we all just put in a little bit of effort to be more aware of the things we do and say, and to be kind to our fellow human beings, wouldn't this world be a much better place?
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