Counter Bias and Racism
Promote Multiculturalism Instead of Colorblindness
In contrast to colorblindness, multiculturalism views racial, ethnic, and cultural differences as a strength. Embracing multiculturalism allows us to acknowledge and embrace the diversity, ideas, and struggles of all identities (Aragón et al., 2017). Multiculturalism recognizes that treating people equally may not be fair because all people are not the same (Knowles et al., 2009). Instructors can create more welcoming classrooms when they use multiculturalism to respect and value the diverse opinions and life-experiences of their students.
Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist: Angus Maguire.
When instructors promote and practice multiculturalism, it can cause underrepresented individuals to perceive less bias (Plaut et al., 2009) while also increasing their perseverance, ambition, and success (Walton et al., 2012; Walton & Cohen, 2007). Faculty who adopt a multicultural ideology use more inclusive and equitable teaching practices than those who subscribe to the colorblindness ideology. Furthermore, evidence suggests that faculty who adopt a multicultural ideology use more inclusive and equitable teaching practices than those who subscribe to the colorblindness ideology (Aragón et al., 2017). This makes sense because implementing inclusive teaching requires acknowledging differences. Multiculturalism can make underrepresented individuals feel more valued (Wolsko et al., 2006), but care must be taken to prevent those in the majority from feeling excluded (Plaut et al., 2011). For more information please watch Colorblind Ideology Is a Form of Racism, The Risks of Color Blindness, and Race in the classroom: Seeing Color.
Recognize and Reduce Implicit Bias
The existence of implicit bias means that even well-intentioned people can have unconscious biases which can inadvertently lead to hurtful discriminatory behavior (Cole, 2018; Staats et al., 2017). The majority of White people believe they do not see race, treat everyone equally, and are in fact better-than-average at being racially unbiased, but it is clear from the data that this is far from true (Staats et al., 2017). The majority of White people believe they do not see race, treat everyone equally, and are in fact better-than-average at being racially unbiased, but it is clear from the data that this is far from true. Similarly, some people of color believe that as the victims of racism it is impossible for them to be biased or racist (Kendi, 2019). The truth is that implicit bias affects us all. The good news is that there are many steps that instructors can take to reduce their implicit biases. One of the first and most important steps is to become more aware of the implicit biases you hold. This is most easily accomplished by taking an Implicit Association Test (IAT, https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/); some have even suggested that IATs should be a mandatory part of faculty training (Killpack & Melón,