In my previous blogs, I discussed the cause and effect of biases and why a world without prejudice and with more inclusivity and diversity is valuable for everyone. In short: we are influenced by our unconscious biases. These unconscious biases allow us to make decisions quickly and efficiently. But, at the same time, this “bias” and its effect on our decision-making or behaviour can lead to misjudgments. For example, we may accidentally and unjustly exclude others. If we are not aware of our unconscious biases, nothing will change. So the first step towards more inclusivity is awareness. Would you like to contribute to this movement? In this blog, I will explain how you can do that. 

What biases do you have?

Creating awareness starts with looking at yourself. Ask yourself if you have ever experienced any of these prejudices (also known as biases):

  • affinity bias: The tendency to connect with people who have similar backgrounds, experiences, and interests. It is actually quite normal to mingle with like-minded people. The danger of this bias, however, lies in avoiding people you don’t think you have much in common with.
  • confirmation bias: the tendency to pay more attention to ideas and information that are consistent with our own views and hypotheses. In fact, you even remember information in such a way that it fits with your own perspective. E.g. when you don’t like someone and decide to give more attention to negative than positive information about this person.
  • halo effect: tendency to extend positive traits to other areas. For example, someone grew up in a wealthy family and because of that, you put this person as a whole on a pedestal.
  • horns effect: the opposite of the halo effect. For example, if a person makes a certain statement that you don’t like, you may start to dislike all the other things that person says.
  • attribution bias: When good things happen, you may be inclined to think it’s down to your own actions. Whereas, if something bad happens, you may be inclined to blame external factors. With others, we tend to do the opposite. If something bad happens to someone else, we may be tempted to blame that person.

How can you show others that you are inclusive?

You have taken the first step and consciously considered your prejudices. How did it go?

Now that you have created awareness and know what your biases are, it is time for the next step. We can take that using the theory of Jennifer Brown (diversity and inclusion expert). Jennifer Brown developed the Ally Continuum. Ally means ally and an ally stands up for the equality of marginalized groups (minorities). An ally actively opposes the inequality of a disadvantaged group, of which he or she is not part. That could be a heterosexual person who is an ally for people from the LGBTQ+ community, or a man who stands up for women’s equal rights. That can be difficult, but it is extremely valuable when people outside the group speak out about injustice. According to Brown, as an ally you go through the following phases:

  • apathetic: Initially you are not aware of a problem. “Isn’t it normal for women to have a lower salary than men?”, “Black Pete isn’t racist, is it?”, “It’s just the way it is”. If you don’t see a problem, then there is no problem and therefore no solution is needed. It is important to get out of this phase, only then will change begin. Anyone can be in this phase, but if you are reading this blog you are probably already aware of a number of problems!
  • awareness: you come to the realization that you have been blind. We know something is up, but we’re not quite sure what to do. You see that as a woman you earn less than your male (equivalent) colleagues. Your male colleague sees that too. Not much happens, but at least it’s talked about. There is awareness.
  • active: in this phase you take action. You are aware of the problem, your prejudices and you practice with new behaviours and thoughts. This is an uncomfortable phase where you expose yourself to scary situations. You stand up for yourself and for someone else, even though it results in a difficult situation. You keep immersing yourself in new topics. You see that your black colleague is being treated differently and decide to stand up for him/her. At the dinner table, relatives tell you that Zwarte Piet is not racist, that this discussion is ridiculous. You actively engage in conversation and give your parents a new perspective on the problem. Relatives think and begin to form new opinions.
  • defense (advocate): you are not a one-time ally, but remain active. Do you see something crazy happening? Then you speak out.

Keep learning

Everyone can be in different phases: for example, you can be an ally for the black community, but not aware of the oppression of the LGBTQ community. You can’t expect anyone or yourself to know everything and stand up for everyone, but you can keep learning about how to become a better ally. Because an inclusive world is a better world for everyone!

It has been over a year since the brutal murder of George Floyd. A tragedy that put the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on the worldwide map. The BLM movement has been around for quite some time. It was founded in response to the acquittal of the man who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in the street in 2012. The BLM movement grew after unarmed black men Michael Brown and Eric Garner were shot and killed by white cops in 2014. The BLM movement has increased worldwide awareness about the racism that still takes place today. Since the Black Lives Matter movement, I have started to educate myself about racism, and I have decided to speak up more often. For example, I wrote this article, in which I mentioned the following:

“We can no longer ignore or downplay the problem that racism is. It is time to talk about it on a larger scale. Racism is learned and that means that you can also unlearn it. Let’s educate and inform ourselves and the people around us. Let’s focus on solidarity, mutual respect, and equality rather than division, conflict, and hate.”

It is crucial to keep talking about these issues, not just when it is a hot topic. Don’t be afraid to speak up. That is why I would like to share some of my experiences:

Bias

My (colored) boyfriend and I can often be found on the terrace. On a hot summer day in July 2020 (shortly after George Floyd’s murder), my boyfriend, a girlfriend, and I were drinking beers on the terrace of our favorite pub. The waiter, a middle-aged white male, served us while also clearing tables. My boyfriend decided to go home after a few beers, and I stayed behind with my girlfriend. At one point, the waiter stormed over to us, after which he informed us that he had lost a few beer glasses. They were gone, just like that. We could understand his frustration and told him we felt for him. But, to our shock, his response was: “That immigrant friend of yours must have taken them. They steal all the time”.

How can you say such a thing? How ignorant are you when you still think like this, with everything that has happened over the past year? Full of disbelief and astonishment, we addressed the waiter about his behavior. Previously I would have left it at that. I probably wouldn’t have told my boyfriend about it because it’s just too painful. But doing nothing is also doing something. So I called my boyfriend and asked him to return to the pub. I had decided to educate and inform ourselves and our environment. And that is what we did that day.

Discrimination

My boyfriend and I like to socialize and travel. We love the sun, having drinks on a terrace, eating good food. Last year we decided to go to Milan. While I visited some shops, my boyfriend was walking around the famous and impressive Duomo. There he saw a man who made portraits of people. It would be nice to have a portrait of us both in Milan, he thought. The man wasn’t working on paintings of others at the time, and my boyfriend decided to walk up to him. To his surprise, the man didn’t make any eye contact and completely ignored him. Nevertheless, my boyfriend decided to ask the man how much it would cost to make a portrait. The man looked at him with a disapproving look and said, without hesitation: “No”. When my boyfriend told me about what he had experienced, I couldn’t believe it. It made me nauseous and filled me up with anger and sadness. How was my boyfriend supposed to feel?!

I was curious how the man would react to me asking for a portrait, and I decided to approach him by myself. We quickly made contact and I asked him how much it would cost to make a portrait. He happily told me: “For you only 20 euros!”. I became furious and almost had problems restraining myself. Instead, I signaled to my boyfriend, who then walked up to me. The man’s face instantly turned white and he quickly turned his back to us.

What did I learn?

The moral of the story, you may not be able to educate everyone, but it’s worth speaking out! Some may slam the door which can be very frustrating, but doing something is better than doing nothing!

Yet, I see a change of attitude, not only in myself (from passive to active reacting to racism), but also in others. I notice that more and more people dare to speak up when they witness racism or injustice. For example, last year, a lot of people on my Instagram feed actively supported the BLM movement. And, more often than not, you hear that people joined the protest against police brutality and racism.

I will continue to use my voice, will you be joining me?

Everybody is different. It might sound logical at first, but not everyone finds this particularly easy to accept. Discrimination through, for example, body shaming, homophobia and racism is still common and a daily occurrence for many people in the Netherlands. It is therefore important that we as a society are aware of our unconscious biases and work towards diversity and inclusion. Why is this so important?

We act as we are treated

Research by psychologist Rosenthal shows that we behave the way we are treated. Rosenthal took intelligence tests on children and falsified the results. The children who had been assigned a (random) good grade also achieved better school results later on. This good grade influenced the behavior of the teachers; they (unconsciously) paid more attention to these students and assessed them more positively. Consequently, the children also performed better. Thus, these children performed better because they were treated better. The teachers treated the children differently because of their unconscious biases toward the children.

Unconscious bias

We can conclude something important from this research; your unconscious bias influences how you treat another. Everyone has unconscious biases and these arise due to, for example, your upbringing, your family, your friends, the norms and values ​​you have been given, but trauma and lack of knowledge also play a role. The choices you make in your life are mainly made by your unconscious. When we act and live on the basis of our unconscious biases, we pigeonhole people and jump to conclusions. For example, when you see that an applicant has worked at a successful company, you might easily conclude that they are definitely suitable for the position. When a driver has trouble parking, you might immediately assume that it is a woman. When a man is walking behind you for a long period of time, you might be scared that they are going to rob you. But these hasty conclusions are often incorrect.

The effect of bias

So… what can go wrong if we do this? If we interact with others based on our unconscious biases, we wrongly marginalize people or draw wrong conclusions. We act on the basis of what we know, so that we no longer give people who are different from ourselves a chance. All the while it is clearly important that the exact opposite happens! It is important that everyone is given equal opportunity, is represented in society and not judged based on incorrect biases.

Inclusivity and diversity

Surround yourself with people you wouldn’t normally hang out with. Learn about someone’s background. It might seem complicated at first, but it can also be very simple. Ask open ended questions when interacting with others and catch your prejudice. You may discover that you secretly had a different impression of the other person. In my next blog I will dive a bit deeper into the importance of inclusivity and diversity.

A few years ago I was sitting in the back of a cab, and the (white) driver was making racist comments about Moroccan people. It made my skin crawl, but I said nothing. She who remains silent agrees.

Until this day I still feel guilty about this. I should have stood up for our Moroccan Dutchies. But I froze, and after getting out I immediately regretted it: you should’ve said something! This is how racism is kept alive!

Growing up in a multicultural society

When I went to primary school my white and left-oriented  parents consciously put me on a so-called “black” school. My classmates were Dutch-Moroccan, Dutch-Turkish, Syrian and Indian.

My best friend had Dutch parents and my other best friend lived with her Hindu-Surinamese mother. I enjoyed staying at my friend’s places. The food at my Surinamese, Turkish and Moroccan friends was delicious and I’d love being there because it was so different from my own home. We’d celebrate Eid and during our yearly school yard party we ate treats from all over the world. As a young girl I thought living with different cultures was very normal and I am very thankful of my parents for giving me this experience.

The high school I went to was also carefully selected by my white parents. My best friend was a refugee from Iraq. We shared a passion for singing, music and boys, and had countless sleepovers. Here parents were sweet, hospitable and I loved the lovely Iraqi pizzas her mother made. We didn’t talk much about their refugee past, but I could tell that what had happened to them was horrible.

After high school I went to university, and I cannot recall seeing diversity amongst students or teachers, at all.

White privilege

My parents meant well, but they didn’t teach me anything about the privilege I grew up with. They taught us that “everyone is equal”, not realising that saying this is the pinnacle of white privilege. Yes, in my heart all people are equal, but in society not all people are treated equally. I now know that black American parents teach their children that they have to prepare themselves for a world in which they are treated differently. They teach them about how to act when they are (unjustly) stopped by the police, to protect them against police violence. They tell their children they have to work harder than their white classmates, to get a chance in society.

For years my family celebrated ‘Sinterklaas’ with ‘Black Pete’, without ever realising that this is hurtful to others. One time in primary school me and some classmates even went to school with our faces painted black, to hand out presents to the younger kids. It’s something that embarasses me greatly. When I was 25 I met my (non Dutch) partner and he made me face reality. He told me: “Yeah right, Black Pete is black because he goes through the chimney. How come he has an afro, golden earrings and red lipstick then?”. Naive as I was, I couldn’t answer his question.

In the years following I kept thinking about racism. As a white woman I am part of a system in which people are not treated equally, purely based on the colour of their skin. My white ancestors were responsible for this and my fellow white people maintain the system, consciously or subconsciously. I have the luxury to choose: either I face this uncomfortable subject, or I ignore it. People who are a victim of racism do not have this choice. They are confronted with it on a daily basis. They have to be alert, whether they like it or not.

Show solidarity

What would be easier than thinking about this uncomfortable subject, is burying my head back into the sand and returning to “she who remains silent agrees”. But we cannot let minorities keep standing up for themselves without getting involved. Straight people go to Gay Pride, men voted for women’s rights and if you haven’t experienced sexual assault you can still support #MeToo. White people have to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

When you are born with white privilege, use it well. Feel responsible, take a critical look at your own privilege and the way you act. Do something, help or protest. Use your privilege to help and support minorities. Read about the subject, watch documentaries. Raise your children with ‘Roetveegpiet’, they won’t like the celebration any less, and talk about racism. Support anti-racist organisations and talk about it with your friends and family.

Show solidarity, because things have to change.

If you want to dive deeper into the topic:

Find more tips on this blog.

The belief, assumption, or idea that there is a difference between human races and that they can be classified. This can lead to discriminatory systems in which one “breed” is treated differently by the other “breed”.

In 2020, racism unfortunately is still a topical and universal phenomenon. In times of a pandemic, protests are taking place all over the world – both online and in real life – : we are fed up with racism. But how do we eliminate racism from our society? Is that even possible? What do you think, is racism innate or taught? Read more about it in this article.

Our brain

Research by three Harvard psychologists (Contreras J.M, Banaji M. R, Mitchell J.P, 2013) has shown that our brain attaches great importance to skin color: we always register someone else’s skin color, whether we want it or not. Our brain always investigates the skin color of the person in front of us. 

There is an explanation for this behavior of our brain: in prehistoric times, someone with different skin color was by definition someone from outside the own group and thus a potential threat.

Brown vs blue

So there is a part of our brain that is interested in skin tones, but that is not to say that there is an automatic judgment associated with the perception, such as an aversion to people of a different skin tone. 

An example is the brown eyes versus blue eyes experiment (A Class Divided, 1968) by Jane Elliott. After the murder of Martin Luther King, Jane Elliott, a primary school teacher in the ‘white’ town of Riceville wanted to explain to her 10-year-old students why King was murdered. She decided to divide her class into two groups: one group consisted of children with blue eyes and one group consisted of children with brown-eyed children. First, the brown eyes were given privileges and compliments. The blue eyes, who wore a colored scarf, were belittled and did not have any privileges. What did Elliott notice? The brown eyes soon started behaving superior to the blue eyes. Then Elliott turned the tables: the blue eyes were given compliments and privileges and the brown eyes were belittled and stripped of their privileges. The former elite disappeared and the blue eyed-children developed into leaders. It turned out that this group had learned something: they had experienced what it is like to be treated less and therefore behaved less authoritarian towards the brown eyed-children.

Whether you can call this psychological experiment ethical or not, Eliott has written history: racism is not hereditary, it is taught through social conventions and prejudices. Racism has to do with power that unconsciously forces people into a certain role.

The solution?

We can no longer ignore or downplay the problem that racism is. It is time to talk about it on a larger scale. Racism is learned and that means that you can also unlearn it. Let’s educate and inform ourselves and the people around us. Let’s focus on solidarity, mutual respect, and equality rather than division, conflict, and hate.

Racism is something that has been learned. Just as we teach our children to count and to read, we should also teach them that there are different cultures and ethnicities, but that they are all equal. We are all equal. 

Do you want to educate yourself and/or others but you don’t know where to start? Then take a look at these blogs that provide you with useful tips and lists:

Do you have any feedback or questions regarding this article? We would like to hear from you. Mail to community@niceday.app!

What is racism?

The belief, assumption or idea that there are differences between human races and that people can be categorized according to this. This can lead to discriminatory systems in which one “race” is treated differently by another “race”.

Racism can manifest itself in several ways: this can be with overt forms of racism where someone is verbally abused, physically attacked or even killed because of their ethnicity. It can also be in the form of subtle belittling (consciously or subconsciously), which causes a certain group to be disadvantaged. For example, by assuming that a certain group of people are inferior, or by being surprised when someone with a different skin color other than yourself speaks good Dutch. Other examples can be when someone makes animal noises at someone from another race, individuals not being accepted on the basis of their ethnicity, a bystander holding his bag close to him due to fear for someone from another race or being followed by security while shopping because they don’t trust certain ethnicities: there are many different forms of racism. From very clear to subtle, and from conscious to subconscious.

Discrimination and Depression

A number of studies show that racism has a long-term negative impact on mental health. A study by Umar Ikram showed that ethnic minorities in the Netherlands experience a lot of discrimination based on their ethnicity and also have a higher risk of experiencing psychological complaints. The most common statements they identified with for example were: “People behave as if they are better than me,” or “People act as if they are smarter than me.” This perceived discrimination also promoted the feeling that “Society does not want me”. Therefore, these feelings not only arise with clear and obvious discrimination, but also with more subtle and subconscious racism. Ikram’s research showed that there was a clear relationship between perceived discrimination and feelings of depression.

It is important to further investigate the exact link between discrimination and depression; American studies have also shown that discrimination based on ethnicity often preceded depression. Racism can have a profound effect causing people to withdraw from society and become isolated.

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

A Self Fulfilling Prophecy is when a behavior is predicted or expected, which in turn, ultimately leads to the predicted / expected behavior happening. Psychologist Rosenthal, for example, gave children intelligence tests and falsified the results. The children who were given a good grade (chosen at random) in turn also achieved better school results. This was because teachers (subconsciously) paid more attention to the smart students, judging them as more positive and, as a result, the children also performed better.

The Self Fulfilling Prophecy and Racism

Racism can therefore be expressed very clearly, but also very subtly in everyday life. Dylan Glover conducted research using data from a large supermarket chain in France. It compared the productivity of two groups of supermarket employees: minorities versus non-minorities.

Less productive in this case could mean being slower at scanning products, taking more time between customers, being late to work, or finishing early. It also looked at the manager’s bias score. By bias score we mean to what extent a manager associates minorities with less productivity, and vice versa. A higher score meant that they were more inclined to associate less productivity with minorities. A bias in this case is a prejudice.

With the help of a psychological task (Implicit Association Task) these scores were decreased. For example, do you associate the word “lazy” with certain ethnicities? Thus, with this task these associations were investigated. This study found that minorities were less productive when led by a manager with a high bias score. This is where the Self Fulfilling Prophecy comes into play: because of their bias, they were expected to be less productive. As a result, these managers spent less time on this group of supermarket employees: they were given different tasks, less attention, and less trust, and consequently they were ultimately less productive.

How you are treated determines your behavior

What happened was that “biased” managers had less interaction with minorities, less attention to the efforts of these employees, and assigned less customer-oriented tasks to them. This is also called aversive racism: racism without conscious intention. Ethnic minorities were more productive with managers with a low bias score, who treated ethnic minorities and non-minorities equally.

All in all, discrimination or racism affects how you feel and how you behave: when you are discriminated against, you behave differently, whether discrimination takes place consciously or subconsciously.

Would you like to learn more about this subject? With the help of this blog you will get more tools and ideas on how to familiarize yourself with the complex subject of racism.

Discrimination and racism therefore have an effect on people’s (mental) health. It is also important to remember that talking about your experiences can help. Would you like to do this with a professional? Go to your doctor for a referral or get in touch with the NiceDay Team, we are happy to help you.