"I'm not racist, I have Black friends."

In 1968, the Civil Rights Act was enacted, concluding the Civil Rights Movement and seemingly putting an end to racism in our country. Nevertheless, now in the year 2016, nearly 50 years later, our nation still experiences the wrath of racism, even if people choose not to believe it.

We may not see the same atrocities and racial disparities like we did 50 years ago, but racial stereotypes and presumptious behavior have become a staple in today's society. This is called implicit bias. Vox defined implicit bias as "a term that describes what's happening when, despite our best intentions and without our awareness, racial stereotypes and assumptions creep into our minds and affect our actions."

Essentially, this is the notion that people can be inherently racist, even if they are not outwardly behaving in a heinous manner towards minorities. Let's say you generally assume Spanish speakers are Mexican. In doing this, you make a hasty generalization as to where someone originates from, and thus who they are.

Vox's article went on to demonstrate that implicit racial bias has a relation to "regular racism."

"Implicit racial bias tends to work against the same groups that are the victims of the type of overt racism that you hear from white supremacists or the subtler bigotry of people who believe that racial minorities suffer from cultural pathology or who actively defend racial and ethnic stereotypes."

I've come across implicit bias in my life. As mentioned before, implicit bias behavior is not always outwardly racist; nevertheless, people can make statements that really get you thinking. I detailed in my article What Do You Mean I Don't 'Act Black?' the types of questions people ask me about my skin color, hair, family, and so on. People may think "You don't act black," is a compliment, but to the contrary it is very racist.

The problem with implicit bias is the racial disparities it fosters within our communities, specifically within law enforcement and its relationship with citizenry. Vox released another article entitled Why police so often see unarmed black men as threats

Having awareness of our implicit biases can help our society, as a whole, come to grips with the existence of racism. This acknowledgment may help us to move toward making instrumental changes to diminish the prevalence of racial disparities within our nation.

So look in the mirror and ask yourself: "Am I really racist?"