Episode 13: Implicit Bias

What is implicit bias? Who has it? Can it help to end discrimination? We talk with Steven Cleveland, activist, filmmaker and educator about implicit bias and how it plays out in education and society as a whole. 

We discuss:

- The role of Implicit bias in standards of beauty

- The difference between Implicit bias and unconscious bias

- Can People of Color be racist

- The importance of teachers not perpetuating biases

- Implicit Association Tests

…and more!

Here are some highlights: 

Steven on looking at the big picture

“I just think that we have to look at how we move forward.” Steven said. “For me, getting stuck on an individual level has never been a pathway to real change. And so it’s really important to engage in the idea of changing culture when you’re trying to implement sustainable transformative change. We need to look at the macro not the micro.“

Steven talks about whether or not Black people can be racist 

“It is my opinion because of my shared experiences that black people are not racist,” said Steven. “We do not have the power as a group to implement our bigotry in a way that other folks do. Black folks for sure can be bigoted. But bigotry without power is not racism and that is my understanding.”

The goal of teaching

“If your main goal is the uplifting of young people and to make the schools better, get over your feelings,” said Steven. “It’s not important how I feel, my job is not to feel good. My job is to create a space where my students are centered. And if the things I’m doing are coming out without my intention then I can’t be the most important piece of their learning.” 

Steven discusses teachers and administrators 

“If what you are doing is to the detriment of our students then you need to go. You can go work on yourself and maybe come back to the profession when you’re done but I can’t have you messing up or kids. We have to love our children enough to make the sacrifice of our own egos and comfortability to have difficult conversations and to hold people accountable. We can’t let our students suffer for the comfortability of the adult.”

Collette tells us about the Implicit Association Test

“Steven and I took the Implicit Association Test out of Harvard,” Collette said. “It’s online and there are a whole lot of techniques to measure implicit biases and associations. It’s a reaction time test that gages how strongly certain concepts are liked in a persons mind. It’s become the most well known and widely used.”

Steven looks at peoples motivations 

“I think the majority of people are doing what they think is best based on their lived experience,” Steven said. “I think Trump is doing what he thinks is best. Especially W., W. was doing what he thought was best based on his lived experiences. His dad did not know you could scan things at the grocery store because of his lived experience. Trump’s doing what he thinks is best based on his life mission. He’s about taking advantage of loopholes and filing for bankruptcy and doing whatever he can to help himself. That’s his ideology. And the reason people follow him is not because they are idiots, it’s because they see that the system is not fair and they want someone who is also gaming the system.” 

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Take Harvard’s Project Implicit: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

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