The Problem with Systemic Racism is You and Me

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the acting secretary of Homeland Security opined that he doesn’t believe there is a “systemic racism problem” in policing. HUD Secretary Ben Carson also chimed in that “that kind of thing is very uncommon now.”

As absurd as these statements sound, here’s the dirty secret about systemic and institutional racism: if you don’t think you’re part of the problem, you probably are.

That’s because while we’ve done a better job of addressing explicit racism over the last few decades (Trump notwithstanding), we’ve made very little progress in tackling implicit racism.

Unless you’re an avowed white supremacist, it’s almost always someone else who is guilty of racist behavior. Funny how that works. Even amongst thoughtful folks that recognize “we are all racist” on some level, introspection and action usually ends there. But implicit racism is, in fact, widespread, harder to identify, and at the root of modern systemic and institutional racism.

We need to be talking about it.

So what is implicit bias, and how does it drive systemic and institutional racism?*

The human brain is a remarkable pattern recognition machine, primed to make quick unconscious judgments that are often rationalized away as a story. It’s how we survived for millenia, and to think that we can rid ourselves of it altogether is unrealistic. There are several scholarly articles that address the nature of implicit bias here, here, and here.

Implicit racism is the set of unconscious biases against people from different racial and ethnic groups. It reinforces but stands in contrast with the explicit racism, which is overt and often intentional.

As a Hispanic, I’ve experienced both. I’ve been called slurs, been profiled and treated with suspicion in public spaces, and told to go back to the Mission (a traditionally Hispanic neighborhood in San Francisco). My encounters with implicit racism are far more common but subtler and no less damaging. Some people who see me as Hispanic have presumed that I speak Spanish, that I was not born here, that I haven’t attained the education that I have, or that I’m Mexican-American (I’m not). Because I can also pass as white, I’ve also experienced friends who reserve a great deal of empathy and latitude for black people or dark-skinned Latinx immigrants but treat me with sharp contempt over cultural behaviors that are unbecoming of a white person seemingly like them. I’ve also had my perspectives dismissed by people that are highly attuned to black perspectives but woefully ignorant of Hispanic ones. That’s implicit racism in action. Sometimes the consequences are benign. Other times, not so much.

In some ways, explicit racism is easier to deal with because it’s in the open and there’s an opportunity to engage with it head-on. In contrast, implicit racism is difficult to prove, difficult to call out, and often not apparent until after the damage is done. Having been subject to it all our lives, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) know implicit racism when we see it. Believe us. Take the example of a colleague that sports a trim haircut and uses white words but speaks up angrily in a meeting at work. Studies show that most of us, including the most enlightened among us, are liable to respond differently if they are black than if they were white. Even if this were pointed out, many white people will instinctively defend themselves, “No, I didn’t judge them because they’re black. I judged them because it’s inappropriate to get angry in a meeting like that.” Or they’ll downplay the degree to which race or culture was a factor. That may be true. AND it’s unlikely the same feelings would have been aroused had the anger been expressed by a white person.

To that end, I wrote a commentary in which I called out systemic and institutional racism amongst “woke” white liberals. There has been a wonderful outpouring of support and introspection from BIPOC and white allies, but also a rebuttal from very well-intentioned, very intelligent white liberal friends who do not see its relevance to police violence and Black Lives Matter. Another expressed confusion about how racism could be a factor within our white community that is vocally outspoken in its commitment to anti-racism. Aren’t they part of the solution, and not part of the problem?

Well, yes and no. We need their continued support in the fight for Black Lives Matter. But the problem is also that they, like so many white people, believe the problem with racism lies somewhere “out there” beyond themselves and their communities. And so it is with Ben Carson (yes, black people can be implicitly racist against other black people), as well as I daresay many police officers who are in genuine denial about their own implicit racism and how it contributes to the systemic and institutional racism they are a part of.

That is a problem.

So how do we recognize implicit racism and address it?

The fact is, in many cases, we can’t fully know whether implicit racism is at play, either within ourselves or in our friends. But we can look for telltale signs and pursue habits that make it less likely that it will come into force. Here are five such considerations to make you a better and more accountable ally:

1. Lean in with curiosity over judgment. Your first impulse and most emotional reactions are the ones most likely to be infused with implicit bias, for better or worse. It’s the flight or fight response. Implicit bias also leads us to be more inclined to believe people most like us, which reinforces racism. Consistently leaning in with curiosity for environments and people that are racially or culturally different from your own is a powerful counterbalance to implicit bias. Be of your own mind about things, but listen to BIPOC when they say they’re experiencing implicit racism and question your white friends when they level judgments against BIPOC. May your judgment be only as strong as your compassion and only as forceful as your wisdom.
   
2. Pursue real diversity in your community. The more racially and culturally diverse your community and friends are, the more likely you are to catch implicit biases before they become harmfully racist. If your community is almost entirely white and like-minded, it doesn’t matter how aware of racism you may think you are, chances are you have a very narrow or prescribed view of the BIPOC experience, and consequently of recognizing racism when it comes up in your own behavior or that of your friends. Many white people I know make very little progress on this in between killings of black people, and then wonder why systemic and institutional racism is still a thing. That’s unfortunate. A personal commitment to diversity to race, culture, and thought in your own life matters. Reading books by and following BIPOC is a good start. Making friends with and stepping into spaces that are racially and culturally different from your own is even better. Yes, it’s uncomfortable and hard, but that’s the work and that’s the experience BIPOC live with all the time in a white majority culture. I believe you can do it too!
   
   
3. Intersectionality matters. Deepen your understanding of how race is inherently intersectional. Race, culture, and gender are inextricably tied. A black man experiences racism differently than a black woman. An African-American with slave descendants experiences it differently than a dark-skinned Latinx immigrant. BIPOC that blend into white culture experience it differently than those who have obvious visual and skin color cues that set them farther apart. All this has huge consequences for how racism is experienced and expresses itself. The same white people who ardently oppose explicit racism against dark-skinned BIPOC may practice implicit racism against light-skinned BIPOC that don’t fit as neatly into adverse stereotypes they’ve learned to become aware of. The #metoo movement means something very different to white-on-white interactions than to white-on-BIPOC interactions. And so on. The racist truth is also that when such values collide, historically whiteness is placed at the top of the hierarchy, hence the criticism of white feminism. Intersectionality gets messy and is difficult, but there’s no addressing systemic and institutional racism without it. I believe the tradition of mestizaje in Hispanic culture has a lot to teach us on this, but that’s for another post. Intersectionality matters.
   
   
4. Demand diverse leadership and accountability. When participating in an organization or institution that exercises judgment or power, whether it be the police or the PTA, does that judgment reflect the diverse viewpoints of the governed? Any group of like-minded individuals is more likely to exercise power in racist ways because it’s all the more likely to be ignorant of its own implicit biases. If your organization or institution’s leadership is not diverse, it should not be engaging in judgment over people of a different race or culture. Full stop.
   
5. Take an Implicit Association Test (IAT). These tests were developed to measure implicit biases. I put it last on the list here because “passing” the test should not be a substitute for the above, or concluding that you have no implicit biases. They are tests on very specific scenarios, some of which you may have educated yourself very well on (go, you!) while maintaining blind spots in others. An overconfidence in how anti-racist you are can actually reinforce implicit racism since you may become all the more likely to dismiss the possibility. Still, it’s a useful tool towards greater self-awareness.

All this may make some white people feel exhausted at trying, especially if they’re understandably fearful of tripping over implicit racism. But white voices are important and we need them. It’s how and when they are expressed that is the hard work. Which is to say that YOU are an important part of the solution to systemic and institutional racism.

In speaking of the European experience around Black Lives Matter, Musa Okwonga observes that “Among these white people, the murder of George Floyd has not been used as a moment for introspection but as a sort of wine tasting of white supremacy, where Europeans take a sip of vintage American racism and proudly declare that it tastes much more sour than theirs.” And so it is with implicit racism.

Please don’t be that white person.

*Endnote: Implicit bias is not the exclusive domain of white people; black and brown people do it too, albeit usually with less power to wield and therefore less damage done. Much of the takeaways here also apply to sexism and ableism. But right now, we’re talking about Black Lives Matter and systemic racism by the majority white community against BIPOC.