Am I being guilty of unconscious bias?

[Normalguy22]

I see this a phase a lot in the media lately.

recently at my work we had a event for black history month. They basically said only black people can work in a certain public facing area on a set day. All white faces were excluded to another area.

They made a big fuss about it around diversity and celebrating black culture etc. Balloons, cake,flags etc etc

Now to me this seems to just reinforces stereotypes and division, surely it we shouldn’t highlight a group people by race, gender etc. I love working with all types of cultures and genders and believe we should all just stop talking about “differences” and get along.

Am I being guilty of unconscious bias or worse racism by seeing these events and racist and causing division?

Not talking about these things openly is how we ended up here, in a world where we need to talk about these things openly in order to initiate change. When people talk about 'divisive' - we are already divided, and you don't repair a relationship by pretending problems don't exist, or past problems never happened. You have to discuss and work through them. And that's where we are at as a society, the 'working through' stage.

(So in my warped mind(!) I saw this as white folk being paid to enjoy a day off and black people put front and centre to promote the companies diversity agenda). That in my mind was just weird md borderline racist

I wouldn’t say it’s warped at all. I would be straight to HR if all the white people were being given a more relaxed day while I was put on show for the company’s (clearly non-existen) diversity initiative.

Very few black people in this country are descended from slaves, we’re not America, but even if they were, do women not already know based on their own history? Do disabled people not know what it’s like? What about gays and lesbians or other racial minorities living here? It’s just nonsense.

I find it fascinating which minorities get these special events whilst others are ignored, makes it all feel like a very empty gesture. I’m fully onboard with true equality, but this isn’t it in my opinion.

I both agree and disagree with you here. I wouldn’t say “very few” - there is a large Caribbean population here and it’s very much part of our history. However it’s equally a part of British history and therefore should be covered as such outside of any black “celebrations”. Like you say, not something we need to be reminded about constantly as if that’s the only thing we’re known for. When our trauma is the only thing discussed or given attention to during BHM, it’s insulting.

I don’t like the term unconscious bias. It’s a way of calling people racist who aren’t racist.

It's a way of making people who are behaving in a different way due to someone's ethnicity or race think about what they are doing.

From the point of view of the person being treated differently it doesn't matter whether it was due to racism or unconscious bias.

Bias, unconscious or otherwise, is everywhere, and relates to everyone.
Try going somewhere with a person who's younger or more attractive than you and you'll see it. Is it worse to be biased on racial grounds? I don't think so.s

"All this stuff".

You're talking about people's lived experiences.

I think you need to examine your whole approach tbh.

OP look at what happened when Evergreen College told all the white people to stay home, and one white man said 'no, this is my work place and I go to work on days I work so I'm coming to work'. Absolutely batshittery. Utter crazy woke nuttery. Benjamin Boyce documented the whole thing.

I don’t think you understand ‘unconscious bias’ at all…
equality doesn’t exist, and until it does, events like this are needed
Personally, as someone who is white, I don’t think that it’s up to me to say what is and isn’t racist.

The moral being, never posit a different point of view to people who can't handle it. it's just unkind, as the only response they can make is that anyone who disagrees with them is an idiot.

I love this visual representation/ use it a lot! 😊

OP try thinking about as a way of balancing out that there are celebrations of Irish people and culture on St Patrick's Day, English on St George's day etc...

Or compare it to how Pride events are important for visibility and wider social acceptance of LGBQTIA+ culture 🏳️‍🌈

And allow the celebrations and have fun!

I have seen this sort of thing in say the airline industry whereby they highlight that a particular flight is totally staffed by black people (or women)

But these are all people doing those jobs who are rotated into one flight (by accident or design) who all do those jobs. Not just putting someone into the pilots chair for the day.

I'd not really spot it as a thing in my local bank unless it was specifically pointed out.

Channel 4 did a day of black faces recently-presenters and actors in shows (I think holly oaks etc did special episodes) and all the adverts. But again you probably wouldn't have actually spotted anything different unless you read some pr in advance (or wondered why Phil and Kirsty had changed)

I do support and agree with Black History Month. It is educational and surely that is always a good thing?

Racism is still a huge problem and I have witnessed firsthand hostile comments and slights being made to an older woman of colour (in my own family). I look quite different so people tend to assume that we aren’t ‘together’ - then they are completely astonished when I call them out.

I also think that diversity of the photos used in marketing materials etc can make a positive difference, but it doesn’t ring true if the rest of the organisation doesn’t actually reflect that diversity. See the National Trust brochure for a prime example of this!

Grow up.

This!

Hi I'm mixed race. The whole keep every black face in one section for the day smacks of company wanting photo opportunities tbh!

The difference a lot of white people can't understand is there's so much pain in history that makes it hard to move past to all be hand in hand singing songs round a campfire, people will always be different.

What they did is probably illegal. You are not allowed to segregate people by race!

Black faces being a minority is inevitable because black people are 3.7% of the UK population. It's reality, not racism.

Grow up

Also, I am mixed race myself. Does that now allow me to hold my opinion of ‘unconscious bias’ being a load of crap?

Isn’t this what the widely used term “lived experience” is?

Funny that people never trot out this line when Jewish people say something is anti-Semitic.

I don’t agree with it anyway. If it’s just not arguing with a black person who feels something is racist maybe that’s one thing. If it’s ‘all company policy has to cater to employees’ subjective opinions of what is racist’, to me that’s irrational and no different from ‘a woman is anyone who says they are a woman’.