Being White in a Black Majority and Calling Out Unconscious Bias
Just recognizing bias isn’t enough. Equip yourself with language and tools to exercise your privilege to engage in conversations around race.
Checking Bias by Assuming Positive Intent
Every day lessons on bias. I thought I was just ordering soup. I was ordering soup at a coffee shop a few weeks ago. The young woman behind the counter could not have appeared more bored. Her head was resting on her hand. Atop her elbow that was resting on the counter. She could barely…
Test your unconscious bias. What do you see in the news?
You know what they say about assumptions, and it’s not good. But we do it all the time, unconsciously. Every time you look at someone, read a news article, see an image on television…it’s perfectly natural that every experience that we’ve had prior will inform how we interpret that moment before us. The problem is…
Unconscious Bias around Name Pronunciation and Non-American Names
My name is Deanna. Friends from my childhood may still get away with calling me DeeDee, but it really grates when people call me Diana. As a result, or perhaps as a speaker of other languages, I always try to hear someone’s name and pronounce it correctly in their language—or should I say as they…
Was that me speaking, or my culture?
A couple of weeks ago I got home late from work and realized at 9:30 pm that I didn’t have the packing list to pack my son to leave on a school retreat at 8:30 the next morning. I called one of the other parents who’s always volunteering and on top of things, and said…
Unconscious Bias Earns Flick on the Forehead on Victorious
Wouldn’t it be great if when someone asked a question that was naively, grossly, biased, that they just got a flick on the forehead, as in wake up! And, wouldn’t it be great if when it happened it was on a show for tweens, and you were watching it with your child, and have a…
What To Do When Your Child Mortifies You with a Racial Remark
Your 7 year old child who is white hesitates to shake someone’s hand who is African-American. Your first grader tells another student she’s “a lesbian with her sister.” You were there. You weren’t there. You are the most open, anti-racist, multicultural person you know. Where did your child get this from? I’ve seen stories about…
Consciously building unconscious bias
I was struck by author Malcolm Gladwell’s desicription of “Rapid Cognition” in the book blink, and how he used the example of the car salesman to show how ignoring sub-conscious ‘knee-jerk’ reactions to people can negatively impact the bottom line. (e.g. assuming someone won’t be buying a car strictly from their appearance/first impression.) When we (social…
Noting When and How we Reference Race, and the Assumptions behind the Absence
Hey you racist, why did you mention only Serena Williams race in last week’s post about the Mother Nature/Tampax ad? Luckily that comment didn’t come in, but as I was riding the train (or the “L” as we call it in Chicago) downtown yesterday, I realized I did mention Serena’s race, but not “Mother Nature’s”. …
What I learned from Marc Sims: Self Proclaimed “Pseudo Motivational Speaker”
When Marc and I first met, I didn’t know what to think. We were in the “Green Room,” aka the Counselor’s office at Robeson High School in Chicago, getting ready to visit classrooms as motivational speakers, as part of the Black Star Project. “I tell them about careers in marketing, and to believe in…