Let’s Be Real About Our Implicit Bias

If we are trying to steer our culture in the direction of love from the bottom up, on a personal level, there’s no better place to start than honest self-awareness. We cannot change what we are unaware of. So we’ve got to get real with our implicit biases: the subconscious preferences, stereotypes and generalizations we learn about race.

It helps to understand that the brain is like a sponge. It absorbs information in its environment, especially at a young age, to form belief systems, preferences, biases, identity, habits and other “programs” to help it function efficiently on the go. Much of this happens without our conscious knowing. Implicit biases are one of these types of programs. They are distinct from our explicit, declared beliefs. And even if our conscious beliefs are for equality or are anti-racist, implicit biases work underneath the surface and can unknowingly promote discrimination in our thoughts and actions.

I address this because while I hope that most of this crowd is openly against the injustice we see in our world, there’s another layer we may carry around, should acknowledge, and can change.

Implicit bias, though it can surely lead to it, is different from racism. We ALL have implicit biases. We didn’t chose them, they chose us. Look at it this way, if we grow up in this culture that has historically and systematically segregated race, via shitty policies, movie stereotypes, and criminalizing media coverage, and we aren’t educated otherwise, we cannot prevent the development of implicit bias. But we do have the power to change it.

It starts with being real about it. Though shame and guilt can come up, they incline us to silence, rather than openness. Accepting our imperfections honestly can lead to heartfelt change. When we can notice our implicit biases, we can start to CHOSE to act otherwise when we encounter them. A program that our brain tends to run silently, now becomes one that you have autonomy over.

I’m going to be honest here, and there’s no good way to say this, but it should be said: In the past, I’ve felt less comfortable meeting and getting to know people of color than white people. I hope that I have never harmed anyone by this and I am sorry if I have. That awkwardness I can feel comes from a deeply subconscious place only brought to the surface by practicing mindfulness. And when I took the Implicit Association Test (please Google and try it. Takes 10 minutes.), designed by Harvard to illuminate implicit bias, I did score a moderate preference to white faces over black faces. I’m not proud of this, but I’m opening up to relieve the stigma, move through the shame and get to the place where real change happens.

A lot of my bias probably comes from growing up in a white, suburban bubble, in addition to being fed the negative stories about race from our society. With limited exposure to and deep connection with people of color in my life, implicit bias is baked into my programming. We’ve got to be brave enough to admit that in order to change it. None of this is an excuse, but it is the reality for many of us. It might be yours too, and thats okay. Accepting the existence of our biases, one can turn them into curiosity and change.

I think my experience growing up says a lot about the power segregation of housing and education has. And right now, we need integration more than anything. Compassion and empathy are the forces that will reintegrate us as human beings and install new programs for our brains to use. So, we must turn inward & reflect, listen to & connect emotionally to the stories of others, be open to & learn new ways of understanding the world, and form new, more intentional belief systems to replace the olds ones.

And then the real change happens when those old programs try and show up and we catch them. We say “No, no, no! Not today implicit bias!!”. With our awareness we have space to chose our new programs. And the more we chose, the more our brains will change, enduringly, and reflect that new way of being. Over time we will become more open, loving individuals. Happier ones too! And the whole world, someday, will match that.