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Understanding Unconscious Bias and Unintentional Racism: Acknowledging our possible biases and working together openly is essential for developing community in our schools

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/mw22v6216

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  • In the blink of an eye, unconscious bias was visible to me, an African American. A man saw my face as I walked into the store and unconsciously checked his wallet. On the street, a woman catches my eye a half block away and moves her purse from the handle of her baby's stroller to her side as she arranges the baby's blanket. In the airport, a man signals to his wife to move her purse so it is not over the back of her chair, which is adjacent to the one I am moving toward. What is happening in these instances? Were these actions general safety precautions? If so, why did the sight only of my brown face, not the others who moved among these individuals, elicit these actions? I believe these are examples of "blink of the eye" racism. Such unconscious biases lead to unintentional racism: racism that is usually invisible even and especially to those who perpetrate it. Yet, most people do not want to be considered racist or capable of racist acts because the spoken and unspoken norm is that "good people do not discriminate or in any way participate in racism" (Dovidio and Gaertner 2005, p. 2).
  • Copyrighted by Phi Delta Kappan.
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  • Moule, J., (2009,). Understanding unconscious bias and unintentional racism: acknowledging our possible biases and working together openly is essential for developing community in our schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 90(5), 321-226
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  • 90
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