Understanding & Addressing Implicit Bias to Advance Equity & Justice Work

Addressing Bias & Increasing Diversity: Understanding Implicit Bias

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018, 4:15PM – 5:30PM2018 STATEWIDE LEGAL ADVOCATE TRAINING

Understanding & Addressing Implicit Bias to Advance Equity & Justice Work

Social Cognition & Implicit Bias

Implications of Implicit Bias & Racial Anxiety for Law & Justice Systems

Organizational Equity

Q&A

Panelists:▪ Laurie Carlsson, Consultant, Reverb DEI▪ Omid Bagheri, Director of Equity & Community Partnership, JustLead Washington

TODAY’S AGENDA

VISION + FRAMEWORK

We share a vision of a community free from bias, systemic

unfairness and oppression, where everyone is treated with

dignity and respect.

We recognize that our social, economic, legal, civic, and political

structures reflect, produce and maintain racialized

outcomes, meaning that the structures and systems we have

created systematically bar certain racial groups from fully

participating in society, target them for discrimination, and take

away power and resources. Our work is about ending these

historic patterns.

THE “WHY”

1. Special Equity & Justice Duty of the Profession

2. 2015 Civil Legal Needs Study – WA State Supreme Court

3. Belongingness within the Circle of Human Concern

Professor john a. powell, Haas Institute

REALITY CHECK

Racial EquityWhen race no

longer determines one’s outcomes.

Proactive reinforcement of

policies, practices, attitudes and actions that

produce equitable power, access, opportunities,

treatment, impacts and

outcomes for all.

Structural Racialization

Ways in which complex systems of organizations, institutions, individuals, processes, and policies interact to create and

perpetuate social/economic/political

arrangements that are harmful to people of color, benefit white-

identified people, and harm society as a whole.

Oppression

The systematic subjugation of one

social group by a more powerful social group

for the social, economic, and political

benefit of the more powerful social group; applies to class, race,

gender, sexual orientation, nationality,

indigenous heritage, and many other social

factors

Attitudes or stereotypes that affect our

understanding, actions, and decisions in an

unconscious manner, activated without

awareness/ intentional control.

IMPLICIT BIAS – WHAT IS IT

Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

Implicit Bias in the Courtroom

UCLA Law Review (2012), Jerry Kang et al

Implicit Racial Bias in Public Defender Triage

The Yale Law Journal (2013), L. Song Richardso, Phillip

Atiba Goff

Implicit Bias and the Legal Profession’s

"Diversity Crisis": A Call for Self-Reflection,"

Nevada Law Journal (2015) Nicole E. Negowetti

SOCIAL COGNITION

A branch of science that studies how people cognitively process social information.

THE ROLE OF THE

UNCONSCIOUS MIND

• The human brain can take in 11 million pieces of information in any one moment.

• We’re only consciously aware of maybe 40 of these - at best.

Brooks, David. The Social Animal: A Story of How

Success Happens.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/may/08/

david-brooks-key-to-success-interview

REACTING BEFORE WE EVEN REALIZE IT

Subconscious mind uses 3 major processes to make sense of millions of bits of information that we perceive.

Sort into categories

Create associations

between things

Fill in gaps when only

receive partial info

Objects, Processes, Schemas

Which direction is the cat spinning?

O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

OUR BRAINS IN ACTION:FILLING IN THE GAPS

OUR BRAINS IN ACTION

Πράσινος

Please state the color of the text:

Χρυσός

Κόκκινος Μπλε

Μωβ

Πορτοκάλι

μαύροςΚόκκινος Πορτοκάλι

ΠράσινοςμαύροςΜπλε

OUR BRAINS IN ACTION

Blue

Blue

Green

Please state the color of the text

Black

Red

Green

Blue

Black

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Green

Green

Red

Black

YouTube Video: Awareness Test

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrqrkihlw-s

WHERE DO IMPLICIT SOCIAL

COGNITIONS COME FROM?

• Parents

• Friends

• Media

Positive or negative associations

Strengthen over time →automatic

Schemas that humans apply to human interactions and guide way a person thinks about social categories.

SOCIAL COGNITIONS INCLUDE:

Stereotypes

• Traits we associate with a category

Attitudes

• Evaluative feelings that are positive or negative

UNDERSTANDING SCHEMAS

IMPLICIT ASSOCIATIONS/UNCONSCIOUS BIAS

• Mind operates at 2 levels but we are only aware of one of them

• We may consciously reject stereotypes

• BUT hold negative associations in our minds unconsciously

• Implicit bias does not mean people are hiding their racial prejudices

• We literally do not know we have them

The IAT measures the ease with which people associate words or pictures representing either of two contrasting groups –such as white people and black people or men and women –with positive or negative meanings. (Bower, 2006)

• Implicit biases are pervasive

• People are often unaware of their implicit

biases

• Implicit biases predict behavior

• People differ in levels of implicit bias

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE IAT

Source: Banaji, Greenwald, Nosek. Project Implicit. 2005

https://advance.washington.edu/resources/docs/IAT_Natl_2005.pdf

• Doctors less likely to recommend African-American patients to specialists

• Managers less likely to call back or hire members of a different ethnic group or those with ethnically associated names

• Judges found to grant dark-skinned defendants sentences up to 8 months longer than light-skinned defendants for identical offenses

Source: www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/implicit-bias-and-social-justice

EXAMPLES OF IMPLICIT BIAS

MICROAGGRESSIONS

a comment or action that subtly and often

unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a

prejudiced attitude toward a member of a

marginalized group (i.e. a person of color,

women, low-income people)

RACIAL ANXIETY & STEREOTYPE THREAT

CORE EMBODIED COPING STRATEGIES

WHY DO WE CARE ABOUT THIS?

Not all inequity/disparity is the result of an intentional ‘ism”

Though unintentional or automatic, these actions of our brains nevertheless often cause harm and negative IMPACT

( i.e. intent vs impact)

Focus on IMPACT.

1. How does implicit racial bias show up in:

• the operation of your organization?

• interpersonal dynamics within your organization?

• Personal life?

DISCUSSION

2. How do you think these examples conflict with the stated core values of yourself and/or your organization?

The good news?

LADDER OF INFERENCE

YouTube Video: Latter of Inference

https://youtu.be/K9nFhs5W8o8?t=11s

Motivation Exposure

Environment Procedural Changes

MOTIVATION

Twitter

ENVIRONMENT

EXPOSURE

PROCEDURAL CHANGES:OPERATIONALIZING EQUITY

Status Quo: Implicit Bias Culture Change: Explicit Equity

Unaware of choice points Builds in decision-making guides that evoke consideration of equity

Exclusive of stakeholders Fosters active engagement and empowerment of stakeholders

Ignores barriers to access Supports and implements strategies to remove barriers

Not attentive to race, gender, income and other inequities

Gives distinct, specific and sufficient attention to key disparities/inequities

Does not consider racial impacts Systematically analyzes potential impacts on disadvantaged groups

RaceForward.org

Dimension ExamplesOrganizational Commitment to Equity

Incorporated into mission/vision/values, resources allocated to work, leadership and stakeholder groups reflective of communities most impacted

Creating an Equitable Organizational Culture

Intentional space for discussing race, trainings available, awareness of cultural ‘norms’ of the organization, POC (people of color) feel valued and respected, ideas encouraged from all levels

Recruiting, Hiring, & Retaining a Diverse Workforce

Policies to promote recruitment and retention of diverse staff/volunteers/board, priorities incorporated into reviews, professional/leadership development opportunities

Developing Accountability to & Partnership with Impacted Communities

Relationships with organizations and communities of color, impacted communities participate in decision-making, mechanisms for responding to community needs

Applying an Equity Lens to Programs, Advocacy, & Decision-Making

Policies and practices to encourage participation in decision-making, disaggregated data, intentional consideration of decision-making impacting marginalized communities and how it benefits or undermines equity

WHAT IS THE ORGANIZATIONAL WORK?

CLOSING & REFLECTION

1. What steps are you taking to further your individual and/or

organizational learning and development around bias?

2. What could you do to ensure your interactions with

colleagues and those with whom you interact in your work

are conscious of bias?

3. What information and resources would your organization

need to operate within a racial equity lens?

Q&A