Let's talk about unconscious bias and racism
This post was inspired by the clip about Prince Harry, in an ITV interview promoting his new book Spare, inaccurately describing how unconscious bias and racism work. It’s unnecessary for the article below, but if you are interested in seeing the clip and our caption click here.
What is unconscious bias*?
The unconscious attitudes, stereotypes and unintentional actions (positive OR negative) towards members of a group because of their membership in that group.e
These biases develop over time through exposure to direct and indirect messages that strengthen our existing biases.
*there are a variety of biases that can occur, this post will talk about racial bias.
Fast Facts on Racism:
Racism is upheld by white supremacy beliefs and involves power and privilege; therefore, BIPOC cannot be racist toward white people
Racism can include the behaviour or actions that result when you act on unconscious or conscious biases.
Racism occurs regardless of the intent of the person who is being racist.
Racism can occur at the personal, community and system levels.
Let's start with a thought exercise to demonstrate unconscious bias. Note your first, automatic and immediate answer to the following:
Imagine the following scenarios occurring:
Your friend is telling you how their child has a friend with a single mom and an absent father. This friend is often dirty, doesn't consistently get lunches packed, and is falling behind in school - what race is the student you are imagining?
The host on the radio is describing how the police caught someone committing crimes in a low-income neighbourhood; what race do you imagine this suspect is?
If even for a fraction of a second, your first thought was that it was a BIPOC student or criminal then you might have some racial biases to unpack.
Now here are examples of racism where someone acts on an unconscious bias:
An Indigenous woman comes to the emergency room complaining about pain; the ER doctor doesn't believe her and sends her home.
A Black person and a white person apply for a high-paying job; they are equally talented; however, the white person is hired because their boss thinks they'll "better suit" the "culture" of the workplace.
A mix-raced Black woman joins a white family business by marriage where she complains to her employer about mental health distress due to her job, and her employer tells her that she's being dramatic and refuses to take steps to address the things causing distress.
A woman is walking down the street and notices a white man walking behind her who is creeping her out; she wants to cross the road but then sees there is a Black man on that side and decides not to.
Racist beliefs can take both covert and overt forms, resulting in active or passive racist actions/behaviours.
Overt Racist Actions:
Lynching · most hate crimes · Blackface · using the N-word · racial slurs · swastikas · Neo-Nazis · the KKK · overt antisemitism · publicly harassing POC by saying "go back to where you came from"/"speak English in Canada" ·
Covert Racist Actions:
white silence · racial profiling · denying institutional racism · police brutality against BIPOC folk · Tone policing · "there's only one human race" · invalidating or disbelieving bipoc experience with racism · touting respectability politics · fear of BIPOC · denying white privilege · Bootstrap theory · microaggressions · rewriting history · eurocentric school curricula · "all lives matter" · Using BIPOC culture as costumes · "wow, you don't have an accent!" · "your fine, you are a diversity quota" · prioritizing white people as experts on everything · denial of racism · tokenism · cultural appropriation · treating children of colour as adults · "you're so articulate" · "where are you really from" · weaponizing whiteness · coded racist language and actions · "But I'm not a racist, you know that about me - this isn't me being racist right now" · racists sports mascots · mass incarceration · colourism · carceral system · English-only spaces · fetishizing BIPOC · Meritocracy myth · "we need qualified people" · eurocentric beauty standards · white saviour complex · believing in reverse racism · "But I don't see colour" · "you're playing the race card!" · white-splaining racism · mission trips · "don't blame me, I never owned slaves."
Racism occurs if someone intentionally or unintentionally acts on a racist bias.
Someone who thinks white supremacy should be dismantled can still be racist.
Someone can know racism is wrong and would never knowingly choose to be racist towards someone, but can still be racist.
In our post titled, Dear White People 🔗, we said, "we live in a racist society, with racist structures and systems, so we are all complicit in racism."
🔎If you're having trouble wrapping your head around it, let's consider some parallels when looking at Patriarchy as a System of Oppression:
Consider how even the most well-intending man, who acknowledges sexism is wrong, can do, act, or say something sexist to a woman.
Hell, consider how women can be sexist to other women and themselves.
And this, unfortunately, makes sense because we live in a society rooted in overt and covert patriarchal values and beliefs (in addition to racism, ableism, classism, etc.).
"But what if the actions are coming from a place of unknowing, isn't that different from knowingly acting? Isn't this a convo of ignorance vs. arrogance?"
Let's give you a slightly aggressive TV scenario:
Let's say Ross causes Chandler to die. Whether Ross intentionally or accidentally causes Chandler to die, the end result is the same - Chandler Bing is dead.
Now, perhaps the intent is required in a legal case that Ross goes through after, but the end result here, in both cases, is that Chandler is dead.
"But how we perceive Ross changes depending on his intent, we know he'd never purposefully do that"
Not to Chandler or the people who loved him because Chandler's dead. Further, in discussing how we should perceive Ross first, we are making what happened to Chandler secondary. Shouldn't we discuss the loss of Chandler first and then, if we must, note that Ross's intent was/wasn't to hurt his friend?
"Well, I can't control my unconscious beliefs, so how am I supposed to not be racist?"
First, remember that the point of being anti-racist is to create a world free of racist systems of oppression so that BIPOC can live just and equitable lives alongside white people.
So we need to consider why, as a society, being called racist* is more offensive than doing something racist. Whose comfort are we centring when we think like that? Are we piling on to the harm done to the victim/person who was harmed? How does the person being racist ever learn to change if they can't own their actions as racist?
Second, we challenge ourselves and the people who read our content to broaden their perspectives and unlearn consistently. Practicing anti-racism (or any form of anti-oppressive practice) requires ongoing commitment and practice to strengthen our skills and reduce the possibility of unknowingly causing harm to others in the future. Over time, biases can (and should!) be unlearned.
* 🔗Unpack this further by reading our post on White Fragility
In the words of Desmond Tutu: "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."
The idea of neutrality can be active and passive. If you aren't actively working on being anti-racist, then you are unknowingly or knowingly furthering oppression through biases and inaction, which, put simply, means you're being racist.
For example, many media outlets reported on the Queen's death without noting the impact of colonization on the global majority - which was a racist decision. They might not be Fox News (who is much more active and intentional in their racism), but in omitting the full and complete truth, they sided with the oppressor and ignored the impacts on BIPOC.
If you don't want to cause harm to BIPOC people, then you need to understand that we all have unconscious racist biases, and the only way to ensure we don't cause harm to others is to be open to criticism and commit to the ongoing work of strengthening your anti-racism skills.
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