How would you fare if your thought bubbles were visible to others? While you may be eternally grateful they are not, I hope, however, you are aware of your own spontaneous thoughts. After all, those are a reflection of your unconscious biases. And the first step to overcoming unconscious bias is to be aware of…
Just recognizing bias isn’t enough. Equip yourself with language and tools to exercise your privilege to engage in conversations around race.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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”. …
