Not gonna "implicit bias" train your way to justice

Systemic racism is a material condition that obtains through the numerous inequities linked to the development of institutions and governments over the long course of history.  Redress against its embedded corrosive effects demands a complete societal overhaul of the ways we distribute wealth and administer justice. It's a collective project of building a better world for everyone.

Very likely, though, your organization... and in particular your boss... is not interested in doing any of that.  Which is why they develop tools for re-casting the problem as a matter of individual virtue.

It’s not a coincidence that corporate human resources departments love to contract diversity consultants like DiAngelo to do anti-bias trainings. Trainings more than pay for themselves if they can demonstrate a commitment to an inclusive workplace in the event of later anti-discrimination lawsuits. They’re also a lot cheaper than paying workers better and addressing structural inequalities. The more that blame for discrimination can be shifted on to individual racist “Karens”, the less onus there is on powerful corporations, and the politicians who defend them, to make real changes.

We do know, for example, of a tool far more useful than unconscious bias trainings in creating respect and equality: unions. Recent work in the American Journal of Political Science notes that union membership reduced racial resentment among white workers and made them more likely to support policies that benefit black Americans.

The difference is between offering workers a collective path to improving the actual conditions of their lives vs. forcing them to take "personal responsibility" for proving to the boss that they are on board with a performative company PR plan.  It is a choice between establishing justice or defending capitalism. And the latter route always requires that we heap the burden onto relatively powerless individuals.

So it's no surprise to find irretrievably racist institutions like police departments, when confronted with demands to surrender their funding and their authority in order that a more equitable and supportive means of societal justice can be implemented, respond thusly.

New Orleans – The NOPD is proud to announce its participation in the “Implicit vs. Explicit Bias & the Impact of Social Media” training program led by LSU School of Public Health and RacialBias.org.  The university and 501(c)3 organization worked in collaboration to design coursework to better equip law enforcement officers with the tools necessary to better understand and empathize with the citizens they serve.

Will events and like these serve their purpose?  Likely, they will.  But do not be deceived that the purpose is to actually alleviate or eliminate racial injustice.  Instead it is to preserve the racist institutions themselves.