Implicit Bias

Many of us are joining in conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion. This is great, and although talking is not enough, conversation is a starting place for making change. It allows us to process with one another new knowledge and growing awareness, and is an entry point on the continuum of awakening to racism and oppression. This blog post is inspired by such a conversation in which the person with whom I spoke did not initially understand or accept the existence of Implicit Bias. Their viewpoints on the matter are not uncommon, and so, I thought to share some important points from that conversation.

In my view, it is important to discern the difference between overt prejudice and implicit bias. On one hand, prejudice speaks to the conscious choice to judge, condemn, criticize, insult, harm, etc, another person due their standing within a realm outside of the dominant cultural norm. Confederate flags waving proudly within a wide array of white supremacist communities is an iconic example of outright prejudice. Violence against black, tribal, LGBTQII+, and immigrants is another.

On the other hand, implicit bias does not necessarily entail out-and-out aggression or conscious marginalization.

Implicit bias is exactly that, judgement that is unacknowledged, unseen, and underlying. Implicit bias may entail a measure of malintent, but most commonly, it is perpetuated by sympathetic, “nice” people. I’ll use myself, for example. I was raised by my father to treat everyone with respect, without exception. I could walk around and say, “I don’t see the color of people’s skin, I see the person.” However, that would be an explicit denial of my implicit bias that black neighborhoods aren’t as safe as white neighborhoods.

Say a person who passes for white is walking on the beach around dusk. Two figures approach from down the beach, one walking high up in the dry sand and the other walking down by the water’s edge. Let’s say the person walking by the water has black skin and the one in dry sand does not. As the two approach the white person, it is possible that they will unconsciously associate the black person with danger and therefore migrate up the beach to pass closer by the other white person in the dry sand. They may smile and greet the black person, but due to implicit bias, they unconsciously move away from them.

Some of us reading this post may not think ourselves to be that unconscious. It’s possible, I’ll grant you that. However, it is my explicit belief that anyone living in this society, passing as a white person, has implicit bias. So let’s look at it another way. Say you take a piece of meat or a slab of tempeh, and you soak it in a marinade. It is a complete impossibility that neither piece of food can be removed from that marinade exactly as it was before entering the marinade. It is not possible because the food was surrounded by and absorbed elements of the culture within which it was placed. The food took on the qualities of that marinade.

Now, how you cut the meat or tempeh will determine how much of the marinade is soaked up, but it is certain that at least some of it will be absorbed. When the meat or tempeh is removed, it is still a steak or a chop or a piece of tempeh, but no matter how much we rinse it off or soak it in water, it is impossible to completely remove the marinade. So too with humans who are raised in this racist culture.

So what do we do? How do we move toward becoming anti-racist if we can not completely remove that within which we have been marinating?

Simply by acknowledging the marinade.

White people must point to and accept the presence of implicit bias in order to turn things around. We must pay attention to the fact that we don’t notice what color skin Bandaids are made to match or that haircare products are primarily manufactured for white people’s hair types. We must recognize our imperceptible flinch when we cross paths with a black man wearing a hoodie, or the unconscious assumption that all black women speak in loud voices. We must build the cultural humility necessary to recognize our assumptions.

We can take it as a mindfulness practice, paying attention to how our minds are shaded. I recommend watching the documentary, 13th. It is a great place to start waking up to our own implicit biases.

In the next blog, we’ll talk about what taking action looks like.

As always, thanks for reading!