As a white person in America, is there anything I can do to not be guilty of the sins of my ancestors?
This question was asked by an anonymous user on Quora. My answer follows with light edits from the original post for clarity.
As black pope, I hereby cleanse you of the sins of your ancestors.
No seriously, calm down.
You are only responsible for what you do and do not do. That is all you are responsible for.
So let’s talk about things you may or may not do.
You are certainly aware of explicit bias: all the various -isms (racism, sexism, ageism, etc.) and how it affects the decisions of people who consciously believe that people with certain traits are inherently and inextricably associated with other specific traits (e.g., Asians are good at math).
You may not be aware of Implicit Bias and how it affects your decision making.
There is truth in the the phrase “everyone is a little bit racist” because we are hardwired to use Heuristics to help us make better decisions faster. Heuristics are rules we make based on our existing knowledge from our past experiences. Heuristics are great for helping us decide which laundry detergent to buy or when a steak is medium-rare, but they are less reliable when we are judging people.
Writ large, the heuristics we use to judge people create our societal norms and dynamics.
So when we are implicitly biased toward black workers, we unwittingly create an labor system that underpays them. When we are implicitly biased against male single parents, we unwittingly create a family justice system that takes their children away. When we are unwittingly biased for male leaders, we create a political system that excludes women.
But the key is awareness.
Explicit bias is nearly universally condemned, but implicit bias is basically unheard of.
Not all heuristics are bad. Not even all the ones we use on people. But people are not laundry detergent or steaks. People are highly complex individuals who deserve more than the snap judgement we often place upon them. We certainly can’t turn the heuristic function off — it’s an important driver behind the success of the human species. But we should be aware of it and how it affects our decisions. Then we should be aware of how our decisions affect our society.
Sounds like a big job. It is.
But it starts with each one of us — including you. Stop asking yourself about what your ancestors did. Ask yourself what you do. Are you unwittingly using unreasonable heuristics to judge people? Really think about it.
If we all did, no one would have to ask this question ever again.
