Privilege, Implicit Bias & Microaggressions

Part of our learning about identity markers also involved examining the ways in which differing identities can impact people's relationships and life experiences. We especially wanted to emphasize the impact on people who are members of marginalized identity groups. Therefore, we spent time discussing what privilege is and how it can exist in many ways. Kyle used himself as an example of how some people can experience multiple levels of privilege (maleness, Whiteness, heteronormativity), while others can experience very little.

We continued these discussions by introducing implicit bias and supporting our students as they struggled to accept the implicit biases that exist within themselves and the people they care about based on the experiences they have lived through and the influencers in their lives. Our goal was to help our students understand that having implicit biases is natural and not shameful. However, after acknowledging that these biases exist within us, we must actively try to overcome them.

Finally, we introduced the concept of microaggressions and provided examples for our students of how they manifest in our daily lies. We watched videos in which people described how routine exposure to microaggressions has a profound impact on their sense of self-value. We connected these discussions back to our Agreements for Courageous Conversations and the Call In/Call Out process to provide concrete examples of why those processes are needed and how they should be used.