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John Barnes and Prince Harry keep talking about unconscious racial bias - but that bias is very much conscious, as I explain here: washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/0…
I am so glad they are speaking out, it's just that to deal with this problem we first have to diagnose it correctly.
I am so glad they are speaking out, it's just that to deal with this problem we first have to diagnose it correctly.
When John Barnes and Prince Harry talk about "unconscious racial bias", I think it would be better to talk about "unexamined racial bias" - views which we very consciously hold, but which in our private circles of like-minded people are rarely subjected to scrutiny.
I know exactly how difficult it can be to challenge those closest to us on certain issues. It takes love and respect and courage. I just think that - from experience - if we call it subconscious, which it isn't, then we end up not having the vital conversations we need to have.
Last couple of tweets, on reflection. I think we talk about "unconscious racial bias" as a defence mechanism - because we don't want to believe that our close friends and family consciously hold views we find abhorrent. (e.g. Prince Harry looking across at Prince Philip.)
All I know is that when I have held views that I now reject, because I am old enough and have listened enough to know better, I held them with conviction; and for someone back then to call them unconscious, or subconscious, would have been patronising as hell to me. /end
