Think About It

          Last week I heard a speaker by the name of Bryant Marks discuss the topic of “Implicit Bias”.  This is something relatively new to me, but it did get my attention.     From what I can tell, implicit bias is the unconscious beliefs we hold about other groups due to our own limited life experience.  The things that intrigued me about this concept were two-fold:  First, everyone has them.  In essence if you have the ability to experience life and process it’s impact, you are going to have biases.  Yet, it is the second aspect that appeals the most to me – just because I have a bias doesn’t make me a bad person.  These types of biases aren’t born from a lack of goodness or a weak moral nature – they come from our personal exposure and reinforcement.  Being implicitly biased doesn’t mean that I am bad person or have malice towards a certain group, rather I am just ignorant (and not in in demeaning way).  Several years ago I was in an educational training that asserted that “we ar