1. Interrupting Bias
Deena Pierott
iUrban Teen

2. Talk about trauma that children and families can have and then share the story of the young man who’s parents divorced at the time he needed a father the most, abandonment issues with his father and brother – in his mind no one wanted him, being bullied at school, being the only child of color in the classroom and being marginalized by your teachers and then being told by his school principal that he didn’t have what it takes to success in front of his mother.
And this is mild compared to most trauma cases –
Now do you think these things stick? Stay inside and fester?
Now let’s Layer this trauma.
Layer it with the power differential in the classroom
Layer this with peer pressure
Layer this on family structures, that could include blended families, missing parents, parent(s) with addictions, sexual abuse.
How do you take all of these trauma filled layers and yet “center” that child?

3. A visual conversation among teens
Black Male Teens Speak on Implicit Bias

4. “THE SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH DEMONSTRATES THAT ONE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE A RACIST WITH A CAPITAL R, OR ONE WHO INTENTIONALLY DISCRIMINATES ON THE BASIS OF RACE TO HARBOR IMPLICIT RACIAL BIASES.”
Professor Cynthia Lee

5. Definitions of Equity, Diversity, Implicit,
and Explicit Bias
Equity is when people’s race, gender, economic status, sexual orientation, etc. do not determine their economic, social, or political opportunities

6. Diversity v. Inclusion:
Diversity is being asked to the party and Inclusion is being asked to dance

7. Implicit Bias refers to the biases that exist outside our level of consciousness

8. Explicit Bias refers to the attitudes and believes we have about a person or group on a conscious level

9. Conscious bias is having positive or negative feelings or attitudes toward or about a person or group compared to another, usually considered to be unfair.
Subconscious Bias in youth:

10. What are Microaggressions?
 “Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership”.

11. Exploring Individual Assumptions
Exercise:
Exploring Individual Assumptions
What previous experiences may be influencing your implicit bias?

12. Exploring Individual Assumptions
How might your own implicit bias affect your actions in the personal life or in the workplace?

13. Four Abilities of Equity Literacy
The knowledge and skills of equity literacy cultivate in individuals and institutions – here are four equity abilities:
The ability to Recognize even the subtlest biases and inequities
The ability to Respond skillfully and equitably to biases and inequities in the immediate term.
The ability to Redress biases and inequities by understanding and addressing them at their institutional roots, and
The ability to Sustain equity efforts even in the face of discomfort or resistance.

14. Questions to Ask Yourself?
1. Do you agree or disagree that implicit bias occurs at your school? Why?
2. How does bias show up in your school?
3. How do the impacts of bias show up in your classroom?
4. How can you practice unbiased behaviors?
Suggestions to Try for Interrupting Bias:
Mindfulness - Mindfulness meditation can reduce implicit biases (in age and race specifically) through reducing the activation of age and race-based association. Kindness mediation (focused on Black people) has also been shown to reduce implicit bias against Blacks.
Deliberative Processing - Practice slowing down
Stereotype Replacement - Practice recognizing responses that are based on stereotypes; labeling responses that are stereotypical and reflecting on why the response occurred creates a process for considering how the biased response could be avoided in the future to replace it with an unbiased response.
Increasing opportunities to contact - Increased contact between groups can reduce implicit bias through a wide of mechanisms, including altering their images of the group or by directly improving evaluations of the group.

15. Resources Books: Film Cracking the Codes, by Shakti Butler
Blind Spots, by Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwalt
Whistling Vivaldi, by Claude Steele
Racism without Racists, by Edwardo Bonilla-Silva
Blink, by Malcomb Gladwell
Everyday Bias, by Howard Ross
White Fragility, Robin DeAngelo
Film Cracking the Codes, by Shakti Butler

16. Thank you for participating and taking this journey with me today..