Unconscious Bias and Unintentional Racism

Moule, Jean. “Understanding Unconscious Bias and Unintentional Racism.” Phi Delta Kappan, 90.5 (2008): 320 – 326.

In this article, Moule discusses the effects of a term she coins “blink of the eye” racism. “Blink of the eye” racism, according to Moule, is the unconscious biases that are “usually invisible even and especially to those who perpetrate it.” While these thought processes may go unnoticed, they influence ones interactions with those groups who the stereotypes are held towards. One study showed that these unconscious biases affected the ability of individuals to work together. As Moule states, “if we mask our true attitudes, sometimes invisible to our own selves, we will continue to work slowly or unproductively.” For this reason, Moule suggests that it is important to first become aware of these biases, which will then allow for changing attitudes. To unpack these unconscious mindsets, Moule states that individuals need to “become less focused on feeling very tolerant and good about themselves and more focused on examining their own biases.”

An important point in this article is that because of human instinct, some of these personal biases are going to occur regardless of if we want them to or not. We are programmed to discern who is enemy and who is friend, for the ability to recognize friend or foe may be a matter of life or death (Begley 2004). Moreover, as Moule mentions, the societal norm is that good people are not biased or discriminatory. For these reasons, personal biases are often blocked out or left unspoken. The important take away for me from this article is that the way to overcome these biases is to acknowledge them openly and honestly. Therefore while it may be an uncomfortable issue for many, the most effective way to deal with these biases in the classroom is to find a way to safely address the issues and grow from them.