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Jennifer Eberhardt -

Jennifer Eberhardt is a professor of social psychology at Stanford University who conducts research on race and inequality.

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Observation -

She believes that our minds are shaped by the racial disparities we observe in the world around us, and the narratives we create to try to make sense of them.

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The human brain - As human beings our brains are designed to seek patterns. This has been essential to our survival and helped us to evolve.

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Survival -

For example, if two members of your tribe die after eating a specific type of berry, you should be able to connect the dots and avoid those berries.

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Survival -

If you get bitten by a snake with yellow stripes, then you're likely to avoid snakes with yellow stripes in the future because you've learned that they're dangerous.

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Ancient instincts - Today we don't rely on pattern recognition for our survival quite as much, but the instinct is still there and we still use it to feel safe.

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Ancient instincts -

Unfortunately, in the modern world, our pattern seeking behavior can create a kind of bias towards certain people.

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Unconscious bias -

Prejudice exists in most countries. For example, in the US, African-American people are incarcerated at five times the rate of white people. What does that tell you?

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Unconscious bias - It tells you that there is a serious problem with the system. But at the back of your mind it may also make you think that Black people are more likely to be dangerous than white people.

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Testing racial bias -

Professor Eberhardt conducted a study to test people's racial biases.

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Testing racial bias -

She showed the participants photos of people of different races, followed by blurry images of objects.

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Testing racial bias -

She found that the participants were able to identify blurry images of a gun more easily after seeing a photo of a Black person's face.

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Testing racial bias -

In another test, participants looked at a group of people of different races and were told to focus on the idea of violent crimes. Their eyes were drawn towards the Black people and away from the white people.

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Impact on police conduct -

One of Dr. Eberhardt's concerns is how this plays into police work in the US. The eyes of a police officer may also be drawn towards African-Americans.

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Impact on the justice system -

This bias, which may be conscious or unconscious, is infecting every part of the legal justice system.

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Death penalty - Her research showed that defendants who were eligible to receive the death penalty for their crimes are twice as likely to be sentenced to death if they are Black and their victims are white.

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Death penalty -

In addition to that, defendants are likely to receive a harsher punishment if their skin is darker in shade. A light skinned African-American man might receive a life sentence while a darker skinned African-American man is sentenced to death.

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School teachers -

In another study they found that middle school teachers wanted to punish Black students more harshly than white students for the same infraction.

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Police bias -

The most obvious example is a police officer assessing a suspect and finding him to be a threat because of the color of his skin. He has categorized Black men as dangerous.

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Bias vs. bigotry -

It's natural for us to want to protect ourselves. If we got mugged walking down a dark alley, we probably won't walk down any dark alleys anymore, not just the one where we were mugged.

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Question your assumptions - That doesn't mean we can let our biases go unchecked. We still need to question our assumptions, particularly where they relate to other people.

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Nextdoor -

One app called Nextdoor learned this the hard way when their users began racial profiling.

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Nextdoor -

The app is an online community hub for the residents of local neighborhoods to share information. Sadly, the "neighborhood watch" forum started to be used to report "suspicious" sightings of Black and Latinx people.

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Nextdoor -

The company updated this feature and forced users to provide details about what the "suspicious" person was doing, and what they looked like as opposed to just their race and gender. They also included a definition of racial profiling and stated that it was strictly prohibited.

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Nextdoor -

By forcing people to slow down and consider why they were feeling threatened, they were able to curb racial profiling on the app by 75%.

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Take responsibility -

We know that our brains are wired for bias. That necessarily doesn't make us racists, but we do have a responsibility to slow down and question ourselves sometimes.

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Question yourself - We need to to act consciously and ask ourselves: what assumptions am I making?

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Question yourself -

Who do our assumptions keep safe and who do they put at risk?

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Question yourself -

How can we make ourselves aware of unconscious bias?

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Blinded by bias -

If we don't start asking ourselves these questions then we'll continue to be blinded by bias. 

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See also - If you're interested in learning more about racial politics and fighting injustice, take a look at this list of enlightening resources.

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