DAY 24: Give up your unconscious or implicit racial bias
The term “implicit bias” is used to describe when we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge. Since many of our actions occur without conscious thought, implicit biases can exert a lot of influence on our behaviour, causing us to directly contradict our conscious values or ideals.
Implicit racial biases, such as white people associating criminality with black people, upholds racism and can lead to tragic outcomes. In this case, this particular bias can lead to white people, including police officers, seeing a weapon when the person is actually holding a phone or a comb.
Because implicit biases are learned habits developed through socialization in a society that perpetuates racial stereotypes through media and popular culture, breaking the habit requires effort. People must become aware of and care about the consequences of their biases before they have the will and the capacity needed to eliminate them.
TIP: Put in the effort to become aware of your racial biases. Cultivate a practice of mindfulness so you can notice when you feel discomfort, mistrust, unease or fear in response to someone who has a different racial identity. Once you are able to notice these feelings, explore what is causing them. Are you reacting to a racial stereotype? If so, you can try replacing the negative stereotype with a positive one, find a way to see the person as an individual, or practice perspective taking. A long term strategy to reduce implicit racial bias is to build caring relationships across with people of different racial identities.
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