Transforming Race Today: Structural Racialization, Systems Thinking, and Implicit Bias

Transforming Race Today: Structural Racialization, Systems Thinking, and Implicit Bias

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  Transforming Race Today: Structural Racialization, Systems Thinking, and Implicit Bias Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law Exploring Race: Building an Inclusive Community Thursday, August 19, 2010 1 Rochester, MN
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  Today’s Conversation  Talking about race  The mind sciences  Framing  Implicit Bias  Structural Racialization & Systems Thinking  How people are situated  Thinking in terms of relationships and processes 2
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  3 Interrelated Sitesof Racial Justice Explicit Implicit Structures & Policies 3
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  Talking About Race To not talk about race is to talk about race. 4 Graphic from: Lester, Julius. Let’s Talk About Race
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  “Much of whatwe call race is nonphenotypical. All of what we call race is nonbiological. Race is a process.” ~john powell 5
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  Race in theMedia John Stossel on the Civil Shirley Sherrod, Rights Act USDA official falsely accused Arizona’s SB 1070 Video clip of racial immigration law & (start at 1:40) discrimination racial profiling fears Video clip Video clip 6
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  Race Neutrality?  The question is not if we should talk about race, but how we should talk about race.  Race-neutral tactics may appear to have appeal, but in reality, we’re not seeking race-neutrality – we’re seeking racial fairness. Is colorblindness an appropriate shift in how we perceive race? No. Colorblindness will not end racism. 7
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  Why It IsDifficult to Talk About Race?  U.S. history of violence, repression, and injustice toward people of color  Feelings of resentment, guilt, and hostility  Fear of stigmatizing groups and creating self-fulfilling prophecies  Lack of information about consequences of racial inequality  Failure to actively envision a “true Democracy”  Fear of being labeled a racist  Lack of practice!  Implicit bias (unconscious) 8
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  Talking About Race- (Don’t) Techniques to avoid:  Present disparities only  Frame action as robbing Peter to pay Paul  Separate out people in need from “everybody else”  Glide over real fears, shared suffering, or the fact that people are often internally divided  Dismiss the importance of individual efforts 9
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  Talking About Race- (Do)  Frame the discussion using the norms & values of the audience  Anchor to their narratives  In the story you tell, make sure everyone can see themselves  “Us” -- not just “those people”  Acknowledge that individualism is important – but that the healthiest individual is nurtured by a community invested in everyone’s success  Emphasize shared, deep values 10
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  Underscore Deep SharedValues Unity Security Opportunity Community Mobility Redemption Fairness Liberty 11
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  Race in theU.S. Racial attitudes in the U.S. have improved significantly over time. We have moved from segregation into a period of racial egalitarianism. Interracial relationships are becoming more accepted. We elected a biracial President. The United States continues to be strongly divided by race. Nationally, the black unemployment rate tends to be about twice as high as the white rate. A black male born in 2001 has a 32% chance of spending time in prison at some point in his life, a Hispanic male has a 17% chance, and a white male has a 6% chance. 12 http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_reducingracialdisparity.pdf
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  Framing Matters  Both these perspectives are true – how we frame issues of race matters.  Consider the false dichotomies we often use when we think and talk about race. These binaries are actually frames.  Black / White  Post-racialism / Civil Rights  Race is not important / Race matters 13
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  Framing How messages are framed affects how they are perceived. 14
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  Framing Conversations  Unity: Focus on terms that bring people together rather than those that are divisive  “Us/them” mindset  a “we” perspective  “We, the people…” recognizes “All the people”  Linked fate: The fates of all people are linked  We need to understand the effect that institutional arrangements have on all individuals. 15 Annie E. Casey “Race Matters” Toolkit – How to Talk About Race. http://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/howtotalkaboutrace.pdf
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  Create Empathetic Space  Build connections through personal narratives “I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas… I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.” 16
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  Race in Action Power Implicit Bias / Structural Mind Science Racialization 17
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  Mind Sciences More than just asking people what they think, we need to understand the processes behind how they think. 18
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  Implicit Bias • People are meaning-making machines. •Individual meaning •Collective meaning •Only 2% of emotional cognition is available to us consciously We unconsciously • Racial bias tends to reside in think about race the unconscious network even when we do not explicitly discuss it. 19
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  Our Unconscious Networks  What colors are the following lines of text? 20
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  Our Unconscious Networks  What colors are the following lines of text? 21
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  Our Unconscious Networks  What colors are the following lines of text? 22
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  Our Unconscious Networks  What colors are the following lines of text? 23
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  Our Unconscious Networks  What colors are the following lines of text? 24
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  Implicit Bias –Unconscious Modeling 25
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  In the Eyeof the Beholder “People in industrialized societies often think line A is shorter than line B, but that illusion is weaker or absent in some small-scale societies, whose members perceive the lines as equally long.” 26 Jones, Dan. (2010). “A WEIRD View of Human Nature Skews Psychologists’ Studies.” Science 328(5986): 1627.
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  The Spinning GirlIllusion Are you right-brained or left-brained? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkJVqhEcHiY&feature=related OR http://www.moillusions.com/2007/06/spinning-sihouette-optical-illusion.html 27
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  Implicit Association Tests Racialized outcomes do not require racist actors. 28
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  Implicit Bias AgainstNonwhites is Pervasive. Distributions of Responses on Explicit (Self-reported) and Implicit Measures Groups Explicit Implicit Compared Nonwhite Neutral White Nonwhite Neutral White Blacks/Whites 12% 56% 32% 12% 19% 69% Asians/Whites 16% 57% 27% 11% 26% 63% Note: Percentages represent the percent biased in favor of group. 29 Source: 94 California Law Review (2006), p. 957.
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  The Shooter VideoGame 30
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  Where is thisfamily sitting? 31
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  Where is thisfamily sitting? When scientists showed a similar sketch to people from East Africa - a culture containing few angular visual cues - the family is seen sitting under a tree. The woman is balancing an item on her head. Westerners are accustomed to the corners and box-like shapes of architecture. They are more likely to place the family indoors and to interpret the rectangle above the woman's head as a window through which 32 shrubbery can be seen.
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  Awareness Test http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrqrkihlw-s 33
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  Neurological Origins ofPrejudice?  Limbic system – categorizes what we perceive  The limbic system is a very old part of the brain; it can be found in animals.  One part of the limbic system, the amygdala, is responsible for strong emotional responses (i.e., fight or flight) 34 The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World. By the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. (2009). Graphic - <www.buzzle.com/articles/the-role-of-values-in-wisdom.html>
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  Is the AmygdalaResponsible for Prejudice?  The amygdala perceives “potential threat and is involved in the biased or prejudiced response in the context of social evaluation, reacting as if one is prepared for fear in particular, or hostility against what it perceives to be out-groups. “ (p. 57)  We are hard-wired to categorize in-group vs. out-group, not to be prejudiced. 35 The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World. By the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. (2009). Graphic - <bionoid.net/index.php?c=blog&f=itemview&i=3>
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  Reacting Before YouEven Realize It  Neural pathways connect the amygdala/limbic system to the prefrontal cortex, which is where rational thought occurs.  Amygdala is fast; the logical action of the prefrontal cortex is slower.  “Thus by the time we are consciously aware of the person, and our stereotypes and beliefs about the person surface in our conscious mind, our emotional reaction has already occurred.” (p. 83) The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World. By the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. (2009). Graphic <sciblogs.co.nz/guestwork/2010/03/11/brain- 36 awareness-week-merging-the-two-cultures/>
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  Social Categories andMeanings  Race is a social reality.  While we are hardwired to categorize in-group vs. out-group, we are “softwired” for the content of those categories.  Softwiring is social.  Racial categories and meaning can be constantly be reconfigured. 37
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  Social Cognition: Warmth& Competence Where do you think your group ranks? High Pitied Esteemed Out-group In-group Warmth Despised Envied Out-group Out-group Low Low High Competence Source: Douglas Massey. Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2007.
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  Social Cognition: Warmth& Competence High Esteemed In- Pity: group: women, elderly, Your own group, disabled who you identify with Warmth Despised: Envied Out-group: African Americans, Competent, but Undocumented don’t really like immigrants them: Asians Low Low High Competence Source: Douglas Massey. Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2007.
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  Our brains areprewired to overcome prejudice.  We need to view members of a stereotyped outgroup as fellow human beings.  “What kind of vegetables does that homeless person like?”  Once we see those individuals as people, the amygdala is not activated; prejudice is eliminated.  “So, using our capacity for reason, logic, and critical analysis to combat our false beliefs, distorted views, and prejudices can result in messages being sent out from the prefrontal cortex that travel along neural pathways to the amygdala, inhibiting its activation.” (p. 81-82) 40 The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World. By the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. (2009).
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  Acknowledging Our Biases  Suppressing or denying prejudiced thoughts can actually increase prejudice rather than eradicate it.  “Research has confirmed that instead of repressing one’s prejudices, if one openly acknowledges one’s biases, and directly challenges or refutes them, one can overcome them.” (p. 70) 41 The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World. By the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. (2009).
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  How to Debias– Consider the Opposite  Repeatedly exposing people to admired African Americans can may help counteract pro-white / anti-black IAT results… 42
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  How to Debias– Negative Examples  BUT, a more productive strategy is to show both admired African Americans and infamous whites. 43 Joy-Gaba, J . A., & Nosek, B. A. (in press). The Surprisingly Limited Malleability of Implicit Racial Evaluations. Social Psychology.
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  Persistent Prejudices  Unconscious biases are reflected in institutional arrangements.  Prejudice leads to outcomes, and the outcomes reinforce the stereotypes / prejudice.  Ex: Females aren’t good at math. Many females don’t take math classes. 44
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  Priming & StereotypeThreat  Our environment affects our unconscious networks  Priming activates mental associations  Telling someone a scary story activates a frame of fear  Claude Steele’s “stereotype threat”:  For example, tell students about to take a test that Asian students tend to do better than whites, and the whites will perform significantly worse than if they had not been primed to think of themselves as less capable than Asians. 45 Source: http://www.eaop.ucla.edu/0405/Ed185%20-Spring05/Week_6_May9_2005.pdf
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  Priming  Experiment with 7th graders; ~50% white & 50% Black  Given a list of values  Experimental group: Choose the values that are most important to you and write why they are important  Control group: Choose the values that are the least important to you and explain why  End of semester – While Black students still did not do as well as whites, the Black students in the experimental group showed a 40% reduction in the racial achievement gap.  Experiment was repeated with a group of college students and yielded a 50% reduction in the racial achievement gap. Cohen, Geoffrey L.., Julio Garcia, Nancy Apfel, and Allison Master. (2006). “Reducing the Racial Achievement Gap: A Social-Psychological 46 Intervention.” Science 313(5791): 1307-1310,
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  How to ChangeOur Implicit Biases  Be aware of implicit bias in your life. We are constantly being primed.  Debias by presenting positive alternatives.  Consider your conscious messaging & language.  Affirmative action support varies based on whether it’s presented as “assistance” or “preference.”  Engage in proactive affirmative efforts – not only on the cultural level but also the structural level. 47
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  Structural Racialization & Systems Thinking How we arrange structures matters The order of the structures The timing of the interaction between them The relationships that exist between them 48
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  Structural Racialization  How race works today: There are still practices, cultural norms and institutional arrangements that help create & maintain (disparate) racialized outcomes  Structural racialization addresses inter-institutional arrangements and interactions.  It refers to the ways in which the joint operation of institutions produce racialized outcomes.  In this analysis, outcomes matter more than intent. 49
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  Term Clarification Why “structural racialization” as opposed to “structural racism?” • When you use the term “racism,” people are inclined to see a specific person -- a racist. • By using the term “racialization,” a racist is not necessary to produce structural outcomes. Instead, institutional interactions generate racialized outcomes. 50
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  Structural Racialization ProducesRacialized Outcomes Context: The Dominant Consensus on Race National values Contemporary culture Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics Processes that maintain racial Racialized public policies and hierarchies institutional practices Outcomes: Racial Disparities Racial inequalities in current levels of Capacity for individual and community well-being improvement is undermined Ongoing Racial Inequalities 51 Adapted from the Aspen Roundtable on Community Change. “Structural Racism and Community Building.” June 2004
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  Structural Racialization AnalysisApplied Exclusionary Zoning A Housing Market that Subsidized Does Not Serve Housing Policies the Population Racial Steering Discriminatory and and Unfair Discrimination Lending 52
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  Understanding Structural Arrangements Example: A bird in a cage Examining one wire cannot explain why a bird cannot fly. But multiple wires, arranged in specific ways, reinforce each other and trap the bird. 53
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  Situatedness  Different communities are situated differently with respect to institutions. Community A has Community B has Community C has no insurance and no no insurance, but access to both hospitals in the area. there’s a hospital insurance an a down the street. hospital. 54
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  How People AreSituated (example)  Problem: 3 people are out to sea and a big storm is coming  Goal: To reach the people within 6 hours  Assumption: If we can reach them within 6 hours, we will save them all.
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  Situatedness (example)  But the 3 are not all in the stormy water in the same way…  Which person would be most likely to survive the 6 hours it would take to reach them??  If water is a “structure,”(housing, education, etc.) some groups are able to navigate the structure more successfully than other groups.
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  Racialized Structures Structures and policies are not neutral. They unevenly distribute benefits and burdens. Institutions can operate jointly to produce racialized outcomes. 57 Source: Barbara Reskin. http://faculty.uwashington.edu/reskin/
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  The “Good Life”in Minnesota  An August 13, 1973 Time magazine article portrayed Minnesota as having a largely white, solidly middle class, highly-educated population and one of the nation’s brain centers.”  But, not everyone has had access to the “good life.” 58
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  People Are SituatedDifferently  Example: Controlling for risk factors, African Americans were 15-30% more likely than whites to get subprime loans for purchase and for refinance  Likely refinance targets: elderly, often widowed, African American women in urban areas  For Latinos, similar numbers for purchase, not for refinance  Many Latino homebuyers were recent, first generation homebuyers who could not be automatically underwritten (multiple income earners, cash, local credit, etc.) Sources: Graciela Aponte (National Council of La Raza) and Debbie Bocian (Center for Responsible Lending) presentations at The Economic Policy Institute panel “Race, Ethnicity and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis” on June 12, 59 2008 in WDC; and “Baltimore Finds Subprime Crisis Snags Women” in The New York Times online, Jan. 15, 2008
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  Situated Differently –Infant Mortality 60 http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/POC/POCSpring2009.pdf
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  Situated Differently -Uninsured 61 http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/POC/POCSpring2009.pdf
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  Differently Situated Widening Gaps  In Minneapolis / Twin Cities: 66% of white students were ready for college while 10% of Black students were prepared. (2008) Unable to Disparities Academic compete Widening in college challenges for high- income gap readiness paying jobs  Result: widening income gap  Whites had a median household income of $56,642  Blacks had a median household income of $29,404 Sources: Tom Weber. Report: Mpls. Schools not meeting targets in 4 of 5 areas. Minnesota Public Radio. October 2, 2008. AND Based on Census 2000 data. Rebecca 62 Somer. “Mind the Gap: Disparities and Competitiveness in the Twin Cities.” Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. October 2005.
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  A More ComplexUnderstanding One Dimensional: One variable explains differential outcomes Multidimensional: The individual bars working together to cage the bird … to an understanding of processes and relationships
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  Introducing Systems Thinking Relationships are neither static nor discrete. 64
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  Systems Thinking Think in loops, not just cause & effect School Lower Segregation & Educational Concentrated Outcomes Poverty Disparities may be reinforcing Gains in one area are Racial & Increased often undone over time Economic Flight of because of structures – Neighborhood Affluent not intent Segregation Families 65
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  Implementing Systems Thinking  Our relationship to these systems and the responsiveness of systems is both uneven and racialized.  While understanding the relationships that exist within a system is important, we need to look for nodes of influence and power.  Where are the levers that can enact change? 66
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  Questions to Consider…  … when designing new policies:  What outcomes do we want?  Who should be targeted to benefit?  … when developing new processes:  How should the decision-making table be set, and who should set it?  Who should hold decision-makers accountable, and where should this accountability take place?  … when defining new assumptions:  What are our values?  What would it look like if equity was the starting point for decision-making? 67
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  Concluding Thoughts 68
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  Eliminating Structural Racialization  A top-down approach to eliminating structural racialization will not work… but neither will a bottom-up.  Community members must be involved and given a voice to help shape a new paradigm.  Hence, coalition and community building are key elements in any strategy for challenging structural racialization. Portland is a great example of this work being done successfully. 69
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  A Transformative Agenda  Transformative change in the racial paradigm in the U.S. requires substantive efforts in three areas:  Talking about race: Understanding how language and messages shape reality and the perception of reality  Thinking about race: Understanding how framing and priming impact information processing in both the explicit and the implicit mind  Linking these understandings to the way that we act on race and how we arrange our institutions and policies 70
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  Linked Fates… Transformative Change Our fates are linked, yet our fates have been socially constructed as disconnected, especially through the categories of race, class, gender, nationality, religion… We need to consider ourselves connected to - instead of isolated from -“thy neighbor” 71
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  “We need tolook at the individual in terms of many different relationships to him/herself, many things in relationship to his/her community and to the larger community, not just in isolation. If we take this approach seriously, it affects how we see the world, how we experience ourselves, how we do our work, and helps move us to a truly inclusive paradigm.” ~john a. powell 72
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  www.KirwanInstitute.org www.race-talk.org KirwanInstitute on: 73
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  Appendix 1 - More on Rochester, MN 2 – Inclusive vs. exclusive speech 74
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  Rochester, MN Demographics Race / Ethnicity Population White alone 84,595 Asian alone 6,206 Black or African American alone 4,250 Two or more races 1,924 Some other race alone 315 American Indian and Alaskan Native alone 254 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0 Hispanic or Latino 4,115 Rochester is one of the nation’s fastest growing MSAs. Data from the 2008 American Community Survey, 1-year estimates. American Factfinder. Table C03002 & 75 <www.raedi.org/Reports/Data_Book.pdf>
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  Rochester Public SchoolDistrict Data 65 66 13% ESOL languages countries of (English Speakers spoken in the origin of Other Languages) district 76 Source: Rochester Public School District 535 At a Glance. http://www.rochester.k12.mn.us/se3bin/clientgenie.cgi
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  Share of AdultsAge 25+ with a Bachelor's Degree or Higher in the Rochester, MN metro Male Female Black 19% 15% American Indian 29% 15% Asian/ Pacific Islander 63% 44% Hispanic 13% 15% Non-Hispanic White 32% 28% 77 Source: Census 2000 Summary File 3. Diversitydata. org. http://diversitydata.sph.harvard.edu/Data/Profiles/Show.aspx?loc=1160
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  Inclusive Language  Hillary Clinton – Excerpts of remarks from her Katrina speech: May 19, 2007 “Let me say that again – this is a national disgrace. Anyone who think this is a local or regional crisis – anyone who thinks this is about ‘them,’ and not ‘us’ – is sorely mistaken. How all of us benefit from the oil and gas produced off your shores. All of us have been enriched by the culture and legacy of this city. And when our fellow citizens hurt – all of us hurt. Whether in Oklahoma City or New York City or New Orleans – when Americans, our fellow citizens, suffer – all of us suffer.” 78
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  Divisive Language  TimPawlenty, Minnesota governor - annual Tennessee Republican Party Statesmen's Dinner in Nashville: June 25, 2010 "We need to rise up and we need to fight back. I hope you will do all you can to take back our country." 79