When Implicit Bias Becomes Explicit

According to the Perception Institute, “we use the term ‘implicit bias’ to describe when we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them or without our conscious knowledge”. This term gained some traction during the first debate when Hillary Clinton shared the impact of implicit bias and that it is a ‘problem for everyone – not just the police’. We cannot eliminate all bias – it is human nature. However, we need to start having conversations in order to resolve the issues that arise due to bias. This comment was met with opposition, as most comments were during the most recent debates (and election as a whole). What I hope to do within this analysis is share the impact of bias, the impact of open conversations regarding bias and privilege, and how our society has metamorphized from implicit to explicit bias and what we can do to resolve this issue.

Unfortunately, we have seen many explicit prejudicial comments, actions, and events within the last month – many originating after the results of the election, but openly derogatory comments being made throughout the campaign by our President-elect himself. Even with the outward expression of hatred, bias, and oppressive words, Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States. Now, as a nation, we must not fight the results; we must work together to ensure the rights we have fought so hard for over the last 6 decades don’t get reversed. All of the proposed changes and action plans originate from the same place – bias. Hence, my reasoning for this analysis.

Being in education, I focus mostly on the effects of implicit bias in the classroom. Cindy Long, in conjunction with The National Education Association, wrote an article in January, 2016 specifically targeting the impact of implicit bias in education sharing that “even though educators aren’t aware of their biases, the results are insidious and far-reaching”. This is something I have seen within my own experiences as a teacher, building administrator, and district administrator. Now, working at the state and national levels in the areas of consulting specific to social justice and educational equity, I see this on a much larger scale. The NEA encourages all educators to seek out self-reflection training and to go the step further and analyze how bias impacts the students/colleagues/parents they work with. Again, as I shared before, we cannot eliminate bias – but we MUST have conversations in order to eliminate some of the negative impacts of bias. Maureen Costello, Director of Teaching Tolerance and a woman I respect greatly, was quoted in Flannery’s article about implicit bias within educators: “But what’s important to know about implicit biases is that, once people are made aware of them, those biases can be successfully addressed. ‘We can mitigate them. We can interrupt them. You can train your mind to catch yourself; It’s like breaking a habit, but the first thing you have to do is become aware of the habit’.”

Take a look around and you will recognize – quickly – that bias impacts much more than education. We have had a surge of racial undertones over the last few years – especially with our police. Bias training is becoming much more of a necessity; whereas it was seen as a ‘warm fuzzy nicety’ just five-seven years ago. We must have these conversations and we must be open to listening to others – whether they correspond with our own beliefs or not.

In addition to the implicit bias talks, we need to start talking about privilege. The idea of white privilege was first discussed by Peggy McIntosh in her work “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. One of the points that stuck with me the most within McIntosh’s work is the point that we need to determine “…whether we will get truly distressed, even outraged, about unearned race advantage and conferred dominance, and, if so, what we will do to lessen them”. This point spurs my work to this day. Not only do I choose to address the ideas of privilege (all forms), but I choose to have conversations and grow from these discussions rather than reject the idea of privilege. My question when working with groups is often two facets: what bias do you hold? What are you going to do about it in order to not allow it to negatively impact those around you? These same two questions can be discussed through the privilege lens: What privileges do you hold? How can you minimize your privilege to maximize those around you?

I’d like to now move onto the idea of ‘implicit’ bias and ‘invisible’ knapsack becoming explicit and no longer hidden. With the recent times, this has become even more explicit. So many events based on hate and bias, including the Pulse nightclub shooting, Philandro Castile, Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, and the police of Dallas, have brought this country on high-alert. These events aren’t new, but they are gaining more traction and being brought to people’s consciousness. These events, in addition, to the recent events of our Presidential election, have given our country permission to be explicit about their bias. According to The New York Times and reports from Teaching Tolerance, in “Bullying in the Age of Trump”, over 400 reports of bullying were reported in just one week following the election. This amount of reports had not been seen since after 9/11 with anti-Muslim sentiments. The day after the election, less than five miles from my home, an incident happened in a middle school with children chanting ‘Build the Wall’. Less than a week later, in the same school, nooses were found hanging in an African-American students’ locker. Many supporters of President-elect Trump have said that he didn’t say anything uncalled for. I beg to differ; let me just mention a few of the documented statements and actions said/done by Trump during his campaign: mocking a disabled reporter, calling all Mexicans rapists and ‘bad hombres’, his company has been sued numerous times in the past for not renting to black people, he has made overwhelmingly blanket comments about blacks living in the inner-city and assuming they are synonymous with each other, saying that he has the right to ‘grab’ women because he is rich, and naming people to his Cabinet that are openly alt-right in their stances. At one of his earlier public appearances in Iowa, he promised to pay the legal fees of those who ‘knock the crap’ out of protestors (Reisman). This promise resonated with many across the nation (and around the world) and became the talk around many water-coolers. Regardless of your candidate, we have seen a dramatic surge in bias and hatred over the past several months – becoming more blatant after the election. The explicit bias that exists in our society is penetrating our children’s psyches as well and we must overcome. As Bazelon said so eloquently, “We have to show heart and conviction. We have to ensure that our kids learn the values some leaders have forgotten.”

This is where the work of US2, Inc. comes in and can support this work – both in education and throughout society. The premise of US2, Inc. is to Understand Self in order to Unite Society. We must recognize our own internal/implicit bias and work through the necessary components in order to unite society and reduce the hatred that is growing at an exponential rate. We must share our stories and speak from the heart to help others recognize the impact of our thoughts and perceptions of the world. Will you join US2, Inc. on this journey? Let’s make a difference together!

Resources:

Bazelon, Emily, The New York Times, “Bullying in the Age of Trump” https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/opinion/bullying-in-the-age-of-trump.html

Flannery, Mary Ellen, “When Implicit Bias Shapes Teacher Expectations” https://neatoday.org/2015/09/09/when-implicit-bias-shapes-teacher-expectations/

Long, Cindy, “The Far-Reaching Impacts of Implicit Bias in the Classroom” https://neatoday.org/2016/01/26/implicit-bias-in-the-classroom/

McIntosh, Peggy, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” https://corr.peacefuluprising.org/sites/default/files/attachments/2012-02/unpacking_the_invisible_knapsack.pdf

Perception Institute https://perception.org/research/implicit-bias/

Reisman, Sam, “Trump Tells Crowd to ‘Knock the Crap Out’ of Protestors, Offers to Pay Legal Fees” https://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-tells-crowd-to-knock-the-crap-out-of-protesters-offers-to-pay-legal-fees/

US2, Inc. https://us2us.weebly.com