Bias

Working While Black

Another kind of bias against black people.

Posted April 6, 2017

Source: William Stitt/Unsplash

African-American clients of both genders tell me working in a professional, largely white setting is emotionally taxing as there is an emotional double-standard at play.

All too often, white employees can yell, scream, throw tantrums when they’re being “passionate” about their stance on a project, assignment, or other work-related issues. Yet, when African-Americans display just the slightest bit of frustration or opposition, they’re told to “keep it down,” “you’re intimidating me,” or “others are scared of you when you get this way."

So what’s occurring here? These are professional settings where African-Americans are overwhelmingly outnumbered by white people yet still seen as threatening. This is what’s known as implicit bias, unconscious beliefs and attitudes forged from thousands of media images, news coverage, and Hollywood entertainment that disproportionately show black people as criminals and more threatening than their white counterparts.

Dr. Nazgol Ghandnoosh is research analyst for the Sentencing Project, a national non-profit organization engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice issues. In his research on the intersection of race, crime, and public perception, he found:

"Racial distortions are pervasive in crime news. A study in Los Angeles found that 37% of the suspects portrayed on television news stories about crime were black, although blacks made up only 21% of those arrested in the city. Another study found that whites represented 43% of homicide victims in the local news, but only 13% of homicide victims in crime reports. And while only 10% of victims in crime reports were whites who had been victimized by blacks, these crimes made up 42% of televised cases. These disparities exist nationwide and are greatest when the victim's race is taken into consideration.”

Dr. Lisa Wade, a professor of sociology at Occidental College adds:

“Each time we see a black person on TV who is linked with a violent crime or portrayed as a criminal, the neurons in our brain that link blackness with criminality fire. The same for people of other races. The more often a link is triggered, the stronger it becomes. Disproportionate reporting like the kind captured in this study make the neural links in our brain — it’s actual physical structure — reflect the racism inherent in the reporting itself."

The same is true when it comes to African-Americans cast in television or movie roles. When black males are cast as the violent black man, this can feed into one’s unconscious, implicit bias already negatively shaped by television news coverage of minorities.

With such bias in the media and entertainment, it’s no wonder African-Americans report these incidents of racial bias in the workplace. In short, the stress and emotional toll of not being allowed to be honest and direct in the workplace is another blow to the psyche of African-Americans.

If you’re white and you experience these feelings of fear when a black colleague expresses his/her feelings, then it’s time to pause and do some soul-searching. Acknowledge your bias and apologize for it. In addition, if you are white and see this occurring and do not point out the double-standard, you are complicit in continuing these hurtful experiences of racism. In other words, we can all play a role in changing these interactions but it must start with awareness and a willingness to confront the bias.