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I want to make an argument to you I want
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to make a case to you and the argument
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that I want to make is that the way that
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we currently think about talk about and
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act on issues of racial bias and other
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lines of difference in this country is
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woefully inadequate and it's incomplete
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the way we think about talk about and
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act on issues of racial bias and other
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lines of difference in this country is
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woefully inadequate and it's incomplete
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and in making this case I want to build
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on the very robust and compelling
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evidence that has been coming out of the
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science community for the past ten plus
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years that suggests that if we want to
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move to a radically different place a
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radically better place on issues of race
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and difference in this country we have
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to pay attention to something called
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implicit bias so what is implicit bias
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Oprah Winfrey has talked about it
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Malcolm Gladwell has written about it
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normally we say when Oprah is talking
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about it and Malcolm is writing about it
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everybody knows about it which isn't
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always the case so a bias is a
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preference for or a prejudice against a
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person or a group of people there are
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three characteristics that make a bias
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implicit characteristic number one
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implicit biases operate at the
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subconscious level outside of conscious
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awareness we don't know that we have
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them and they can't be accessed through
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introspection in other words the science
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of implicit bias says that none of us
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can sit here in this room right now
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scratch our heads and wonder out loud do
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I have a bias against men against women
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against black people against white
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people against immigrants and expect to
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accurately answer that question because
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the nature of an implicit
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vices such that we don't know that we
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have them characteristic number two
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implicit by C's oftentimes run contrary
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contrary to our conscious stated beliefs
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about who we are as human beings and
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what our values are in other words the
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science of implicit bias says that you
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can be a school administrator and say
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that you are deeply committed to
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nurturing and building up young people
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and yet be the same school administrator
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who leads your school and high rates of
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suspensions and expulsions of young
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people and both of those things would be
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true consciously you're deeply committed
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to building young people up
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unconsciously you're doing harm in the
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process
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the science of them quizzes by says that
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you can be a law enforcement officer
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deeply committed to the mantra that
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appears on the side of police vehicles
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that says what protect and serve and yet
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be the same law enforcement officer who
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leads your precinct or your district and
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high rates of stops and frisks of young
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men of color and both of those things
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would be true consciously you're deeply
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committed to the principles of
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protecting and serving
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unconsciously your behavior is
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inconsistent with that the third
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characteristic that makes a bias
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implicit is that implicit biases are
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triggered through rapid and automatic
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meant to associations that we make
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between people ideas and objects and
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attitudes and stereotypes that we hold
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about those people ideas and objects and
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so case in point I want to do a quick
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exercise around the power of meant to
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associations so in a minute I'm gonna
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flash a few words on the screen and what
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I want to ask you to do is I want you to
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quickly reflect on and/or call out the
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associations that you make with those
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words or that you believe the
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aughter society makes with those words
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and so this requires a little bit of
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call-and-response so government
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corporate suburbs subsidized housing so
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the science of implicit bias would say
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that those associations that you just
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made those aren't mere verbal
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associations those aren't mere mentor
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associations the science says that there
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are attitudes and behaviors that we
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attach to those associations so imagine
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if as part of my introduction I came out
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here and I said my name is Dasha I want
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to talk with you about something
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innovative and I'm here representing
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local government I used to work in
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corporate America I was born and raised
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and subsidized housing but I now live in
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the suburbs of Alexandria Virginia
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the science would suggests that for many
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of you for those who said that your your
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automatic mental association with
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government is corrupt or your automatic
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meant to association with corporate is
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greed you would receive me through that
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filter oftentimes at the unconscious
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level and it would color for you every
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single word that comes out of my mouth
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so that's how implicit bias works these
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rapid and automatic mental associations
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that shape and mold behavior every
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single day oftentimes in ways that we're
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not even aware of oftentimes in ways
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that do harm to others so there are
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three reasons three reasons why focusing
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on implicit bias at this particular
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moment in time isn't
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important and why I believe that a focus
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on implicit bias to help move this
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country forward so number one an
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implicit bias focus gives us a much more
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expansive diagnosis of the challenges
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that we face in this country with
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respect to difference what do I mean we
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know from the work of esteemed scholars
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Mazarin banaji and Anthony Greenwald
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that a significant amount of the harm
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being experienced and transmitted in
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this country with respect to racial bias
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and other lines of difference we know
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that a significant amount of that harm
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stems from implicit forms of bias in
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addition to explicit forms of bias yet
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the majority of the tools that we use
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surged rest bias are designed to address
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explicit forms not the implicit so in
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essence what we have in this country is
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a mismatch a disconnect between how we
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diagnose challenges around difference in
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how we treat them an implicit bias
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approach gives us a much more expansive
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diagnosis and a much more expansive
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toolbox and my belief is that if we get
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the diagnosis right we will get the
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treatment right if we continue to get
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the diagnosis wrong we will get the
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treatment number two implicit bias is
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both predictive and it's preventive
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predictive in the sense that a person
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can go to the website for project
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implicit take any one of the online
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implicit association test and receive a
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test result that can serve as a
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predictor of discriminatory behavior
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it's preventive in a sense that there
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are emerging and promising strategies
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coming out of the science community that
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suggests with internal motivation and
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habitual practice we can do things to
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reduce our vulnerability to act on our
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biases and I believe that that is what
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the country needs right now we need a
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prevention approach
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around issues of bias and difference
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versus an emergency-room response right
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now we have an emergency-room response
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we wait for stuff to happen then we rush
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to the emergency room
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we need a prevention approach an
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implicit bias gives us that lastly in
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number three implicit bias where an
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implicit bias approach helps to reduce
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the shame and the shaming that's
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associated with talking about and
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addressing issues of bias often
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researcher brené Brown draws an
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interesting distinction between guilt
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and shame
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she says guilt says I made a mistake and
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I can do something about it shame says I
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am a mistake this is who I am
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I'm a horrible human being there's
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nothing I can do about it I'm gonna
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always be this way and what I want to
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submit to you is that my belief is that
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one of the biggest challenges that we
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have in this country and how we address
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issues of bias is that we engage in self
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shaming and if we're honest sometimes we
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intentionally and unintentionally shame
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others and my belief is that as long as
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we continue to do that human beings
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would never feel the motivation that
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they need to do the self change work or
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the broader societal change work that we
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need to do an implicit bias approach
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addresses this because it makes the
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central question not are you racist or
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not racist
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are you sexist or not sexist an implicit
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bias approach makes the central question
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how do we get our actions and behaviors
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how do we align our actions and
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behaviors with our consciously held
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egalitarian beliefs released for those
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people who do hold egalitarian beliefs
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and my belief is that many people do so
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that
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why this work is important at this
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particular moment in time and in closing
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I want to leave you with a quick idea
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the late child psychologist Urie
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bronfenbrenner once said that every
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child needs at least one adult in his or
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her life who is irrationally crazy about
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him or her raise your hand if you've had
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that at any point in your life and so
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you know what it feels like my belief is
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that not only does every child need that
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but every human being needs at least one
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of the human being in their life who is
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irrationally crazy about him or her and
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the only way that we're gonna have that
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is if we do the internal change work
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that we need to do to make the external
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change work possible thank you very much
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[Applause]
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