A few weeks ago, I was on Facebook when I came across a video that caught my attention about racism being on a spectrum. I watched it, and when I finished, I immediately shared it. Are all white people racist? Watch this video, then decide for yourself.
In light of events that have been taking place in our country for the last year (or, you know...since before the founding of the country), I've been discussing in my classes, with my family, with friends and peers what it means to be racist and about how racism manifests itself. I do not believe racism is innate, but instead a learned behavior.
This means that you may not discriminate against people of a race different from you, but everyone does have ideas and stereotypes that stem from the influences in their lives from which they need to break away.
As Mamoudou N'Diaye explains in this video, you perceive the world based on the stimuli you receive through social contact. If you spend the majority of your time associating with people who are more like you, you are more inclined to have racial biases in preference for that your race. In can even be affected by the types of media and entertainment you engage in.
On the other hand, if you have grown up in a diverse environment or have a very diverse set of friends, you are less likely to have racial biases towards any one race. This is often why people find themselves having less racial biases after they go to college, for instance. You are in a new setting, and for many people, it is the most diverse one they have ever experienced.
Looking to broaden your experiences with people of all walks of life? Make an effort to engage in conversation with people who are different from you whether that be racially, socioeconomically, religiously, or otherwise. Consider diversifying the movies you watch, the books you read, and where you get your news from, as well!
You can learn more about your own racial biases and other types of biases by taking the Implicit Association Test (developed by Harvard researchers) that N'Diaye mentioned in the video. You can do so by following this link: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html
