Implicit Bias how it affects us and how we push through Melanie Funchess TEDxFlourCity HD 108
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0:00 - 0:06♪ [gentle digitized music] ♪
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0:06 - 0:16♪ ♪
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0:16 - 0:22[applause from audience]
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0:22 - 0:24>[MELANIE FUNCHESS]
I would like to begin my talk -
0:24 - 0:25with an important message,
-
0:25 - 0:28you know, like the ones for
the pharmaceutical companies -
0:28 - 0:31when they see people walking
lazily along the beach -
0:31 - 0:34or running in slow motion
through fields of flowers, -
0:34 - 0:37where they tell you the
side effects of their product? -
0:37 - 0:38[audience laughs]
-
0:38 - 0:43“Nausea, vomiting,
heart arrhythmia, constipation, -
0:43 - 0:46Ugh! impotence.
-
0:46 - 0:50[intensely]
Erections lasting more than 4 hours.” -
0:50 - 0:51[audience laughs]
-
0:51 - 0:54But seriously, I'm going to say
some things during my talk -
0:54 - 0:58that may make you uncomfortable,
[with emphasis] and they should. -
0:58 - 1:03But what I ask of you in this time
is to stay present with me through this -
1:03 - 1:08and ask yourself some critical questions,
to really listen closer -
1:08 - 1:13and really question your
own thoughts and behaviors -
1:13 - 1:19and be open to a new view of yourself.
-
1:19 - 1:22You may ask, as I start to present this,
-
1:22 - 1:26you may say, “Oh, Melanie,
I got that. I know this. -
1:26 - 1:29I read the book!
This doesn't apply to me.” -
1:29 - 1:32I would like to challenge that belief.
-
1:32 - 1:37You may say, “What is this concept
that is so controversial that she feels -
1:37 - 1:40she needs a prefaced statement?”
-
1:40 - 1:43The concept is implicit bias.
-
1:43 - 1:45Let me tell you a story.
-
1:45 - 1:50A young couple, college sweethearts,
they graduate school, -
1:50 - 1:54begin their careers, get married,
and start a family. -
1:54 - 1:57As they start to approach their 30s,
-
1:57 - 2:02they begin to say that they're closing in
on the American dream. -
2:02 - 2:03They purchase their first home.
-
2:03 - 2:06Three weeks after
they close on this home, -
2:06 - 2:08the husband becomes violently ill.
-
2:08 - 2:12This family — husband, wife,
three children ages 5, 3 and 1, -
2:12 - 2:17and a baby on the way —
go searching for the diagnosis -
2:17 - 2:22that has stricken this otherwise
healthy and vital 32-year-old man. -
2:22 - 2:24Turn to your neighbor,
and say, “Four weeks later.” -
2:24 - 2:27>[AUDIENCE] Four weeks later...
-
2:27 - 2:30>[FUNCHESS] ...as this man lays
critically ill and dying in the hospital, -
2:30 - 2:33doctors are circling
around a cluster of diseases -
2:33 - 2:37that they know must be
the thing that is killing this man, -
2:37 - 2:41despite the fact that all the tests for
these diseases have come back negative. -
2:41 - 2:44They begin to harass the husband
and ask him to "tell the truth" -
2:44 - 2:46and to really open up and let them know
-
2:46 - 2:50about his IV drug use and his
secret unprotected sex with men. -
2:50 - 2:54You see, they were trying to make
the case to continue looking for HIV -
2:54 - 2:56despite multiple negative tests.
-
2:57 - 3:02Finally, the wife comes and says,
“Why— What are you looking for?” -
3:02 - 3:02to which the doctors reply,
-
3:02 - 3:06“We're looking for HIV
and sarcoidosis.” -
3:06 - 3:08So the wife, kind of perplexed
-
3:08 - 3:11because [she] thought
they'd already ruled those out, -
3:11 - 3:15says, “Well, why are you
looking at only those diseases?” -
3:15 - 3:20to which the doctors say,
“Well, as a young African-American male—” -
3:20 - 3:25She becomes irate
and says, “Stop right there! -
3:25 - 3:30I want you to check my husband
for things that white people get.” -
3:30 - 3:31>[AUDIENCE] Ooh.
-
3:31 - 3:37>[FUNCHESS] And magically,
within days, they have a diagnosis. -
3:37 - 3:41Stage IV B,
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; -
3:41 - 3:47and a prognosis: two weeks to live.
-
3:50 - 3:58You know, the implicit bias
that existed within these doctors -
3:58 - 4:02resulted in the behavior
that showed what diseases -
4:02 - 4:05they chose to — and not to — look for.
-
4:05 - 4:09The implicit bias of these doctors
said how much they value -
4:09 - 4:12they placed — or did not place —
upon the information -
4:12 - 4:14that they received
from the patient and his wife. -
4:15 - 4:18You may say,
“Melanie, how does this happen? -
4:18 - 4:21How do we, as good activists
-
4:21 - 4:25and hardworking, progressive,
open-minded American citizens, -
4:25 - 4:32how do we continue to fall into
the story of these stereotypes?” -
4:32 - 4:35Implicit bias, those unconscious things
-
4:35 - 4:37that have been flowing
through us since childhood. -
4:37 - 4:40you may say to me,
“Well, what is implicit bias?’ -
4:40 - 4:43Well, I'm going to give you
an academic definition. -
4:43 - 4:46Implicit bias, otherwise known
as implicit social cognition, -
4:46 - 4:51are those attitudes and stereotypes
that affect our behaviors, our decisions, -
4:51 - 4:54and our attitudes unconsciously.
-
4:54 - 4:57I relate it to, like, ”The Matrix.”
Anyone here seen “The Matrix”? -
4:57 - 5:01When you're in the matrix,
you don't know you're in there. -
5:01 - 5:04You're just happily walking along
thinking everything is okay. -
5:04 - 5:10Well, I'm here today to yank out the plug
and disconnect you from the mainframe. -
5:10 - 5:12[audience laughter]
-
5:12 - 5:13Let me share with you another story.
-
5:13 - 5:15There's a fourth-- “Picture it….”
-
5:15 - 5:18(I feel like Sophia Petrillo
[from the TV show “Golden Girls”]). -
5:18 - 5:20[as Sophia] “Picture it.”
[audience laughter] -
5:20 - 5:22Fourth grade math class,
-
5:22 - 5:24a teacher asks for volunteers
to go up to the board -
5:24 - 5:26to work on long division.
-
5:26 - 5:28One young girl and two
of her friends go up -
5:28 - 5:30and they start working on the board.
-
5:30 - 5:32The little girl is the first one done.
-
5:32 - 5:34Since she's the first one done,
-
5:34 - 5:36she starts checking her answer
and looking over it, -
5:36 - 5:39and now that she's very convinced
that she's got the right answer, -
5:39 - 5:42she waves to the teacher
to check her work, -
5:42 - 5:44but she hears a sound
from the back of the room. -
5:44 - 5:47>[in a deep voice as the teacher]
"The answer is wrong. -
5:47 - 5:48Check it again."
-
5:48 - 5:51The girl, quite perplexed
because she checked it twice -
5:51 - 5:52and she knew it was right,
-
5:52 - 5:56she goes back to the board
and she checks her computations again, -
5:56 - 5:58getting the same answer,
-
5:58 - 6:02so she goes back to the teacher and says,
“Teacher! Teacher! I know it's right. -
6:02 - 6:04I checked it three times.”
-
6:04 - 6:09Now at this point, the teacher
being very stern, sharply says, -
6:09 - 6:13[in a deep voice]
“I said it's wrong. Check it again.” -
6:13 - 6:16Now, the girl is thoroughly perplexed.
-
6:16 - 6:18It's math.
It's either it's right or it's wrong, -
6:18 - 6:21so she goes to her desk
where she has a calculator, -
6:21 - 6:23so she starts working on her computation
-
6:23 - 6:25and it's the same one as is on the board.
-
6:25 - 6:27Now she's thoroughly convinced.
-
6:27 - 6:30She says [to herself]
“The teacher cannot say anything.” -
6:30 - 6:33So she holds up her calculator
and says, “Teacher, Teacher! Look! -
6:33 - 6:37I got it right, all the way
to the thousandth place.” -
6:37 - 6:40Now, this teacher, thoroughly upset
-
6:40 - 6:43at this student continuing
to challenge her, -
6:43 - 6:50says, “I said the answer is wrong.
You niggers can't do anything right.” -
6:50 - 6:53>[AUDIENCE] Ooh.
-
6:53 - 6:57>[FUNCHESS]
The student is struck dumb -
6:57 - 6:58by the words that just
hit her like a cannon. -
7:01 - 7:03She didn't understand.
-
7:03 - 7:08Why is the teacher saying
this to her? -
7:08 - 7:12>[STUDENT, to herself] I don't understand.
Why is this happening? -
7:12 - 7:14>[FUNCHESS] Her father
was a mathematician with a PhD -
7:14 - 7:17from a prestigious university.
-
7:17 - 7:21She had learned long
division in first grade -
7:21 - 7:25and a different method for doing it.
-
7:25 - 7:33She didn't understand.
Why was her teacher saying this to her? -
7:33 - 7:34This little girl learned the first
of many valuable lessons that day. -
7:38 - 7:42First, she learned that her teacher
did not see her as a gifted student. -
7:42 - 7:48Two, her teacher didn't see her
as the child of educated parents. -
7:48 - 7:53The teacher did not even see
a correct math problem on the board. -
7:53 - 7:55Some people may say
this woman was a raging racist -
7:55 - 7:57that only saw the child
as an uppity nigger -
7:57 - 8:00who could not conform and do right.
-
8:00 - 8:03But what I'd like to offer
to you today is another frame. -
8:03 - 8:08Could it be that this teacher,
her implicit bias had so ingrained to her -
8:08 - 8:13that Blacks were so intellectually
inferior and unintelligent, -
8:13 - 8:19that it was impossible for
a child in an urban school -
8:19 - 8:24to not only get the problem correct,
but do it in a different method? -
8:24 - 8:26Then when faced with something
-
8:26 - 8:30that all her life, that her biases
had told her was impossible, -
8:30 - 8:32that could not possibly be,
-
8:32 - 8:38reacted from such a primal place
to protect that worldview -
8:38 - 8:40that she had held sacred
up until that time? -
8:40 - 8:42There's another quote [from "The Matrix"]:
-
8:42 - 8:45[paraphrasing] "Some people are
just not ready to be unplugged. -
8:45 - 8:49They are so inured, so dependent
on the system as it stands -
8:49 - 8:52that they will fight to protect it."
-
8:52 - 8:55Again, in “The Matrix,” that's Morpheus.
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8:56 - 8:58Implicit biases are pervasive.
We all have them. -
Not SyncedEven people with avowed
commitment to impartiality, -
Not Syncedlike let's say judges.
-
Not SyncedNow, you may say to me,
“Melanie, these are wild stories. -
Not SyncedThese are extreme examples.
-
Not SyncedWe are good people.
Good people don't do these things. -
Not SyncedThat can't be real.”
-
Not SyncedLet me tell you today:
This is very real. -
Not SyncedI'm going to share a piece
of information with you -
Not Syncedabout these stories that's going
to tell you how real they are. -
Not SyncedThese are both stories out of my life.
-
Not SyncedIn the first story, I was the wife,
Who, big and pregnant — -
Not Syncedas my mother said,
“big with child” — had to fight -
Not Syncedto get people to check my husband
-
Not Syncedfor things that white people got.
-
Not SyncedAnd the implicit biases,
-
Not Syncedthose doctors could have
left a woman without a husband, -
Not Syncedchildren without a father,
and a mother without a son. -
Not SyncedI was the grifted fourth grade
student in the second story. -
Not SyncedIn that story, in the end,
-
Not Syncedit led to my first act of
nonviolent social protest. -
Not SyncedI staged a sit-in for 100 days
in my living room. -
Not Synced[audience applauds]
-
Not SyncedNow, I'm going to share
one more story with you -
Not Syncedjust so you can understand that—
-
Not Syncedyou may say, “Well, Melanie,
you're kind of old -
Not Syncedand these things may have
happened long, long ago -
Not Syncedin a land far, far away like Tatooine
[from “Star Wars”], you know? -
Not SyncedBut I just want to let you know
that this happens -
Not Synced[quoting from “The Music Man”]
“right here in River City.” -
Not Synced[audience laughter]
-
Not SyncedSo, this September,
-
Not Synceda beautiful, gifted African-American
ninth grade girl enters school. -
Not SyncedBecause she's been in an honors program,
-
Not Syncedshe entered ninth grade
with enough credits -
Not Syncedto technically be a tenth grader.
-
Not SyncedNow, this young lady has a goal.
-
Not SyncedHer goal is to go to Cornell
and study neuroscience. -
Not SyncedShe has had this goal for many years,
-
Not Syncedand all the people in her circles,
you know, nurture her in this goal -
Not Syncedand make opportunities for her
-
Not Syncedto start to build the building blocks
to make her goal a reality. -
Not SyncedSo, she enters ninth grade,
-
Not Syncedshe goes to meet the guidance counselor,
as ninth graders do. -
Not SyncedAnd as guidance counselors do,
-
Not Syncedshe sits down with the student
and says, “Well, what is your goal?” -
Not SyncedAnd this young lady,
she's very confident, -
Not Syncedas 14-year-old girls can be.
-
Not SyncedYou know how that is.
-
Not Synced[audience laughs lightly]
-
Not SyncedShe goes and says, “I want to go
to Cornell and be a neuroscientist,” -
Not Syncedto which her guidance counselor reacts,
“Well, that's a, that’s a big dream, -
Not Syncedbut let's look at something
more uhhhhhh realistic, like MCC.” -
Not SyncedIn that moment,
-
Not Syncedthe student stood stunned
as she watched her goal crumble. -
Not SyncedAnd people may say,
“Well, Melanie, he's just one person,” -
Not Syncedbut he's so much more than that.
-
Not SyncedHe was the guidance counselor.
-
Not SyncedIn the schools, just so you know,
the guidance counselor -
Not Syncedis the person who was charged
with setting the academic plan -
Not Syncedto help students get
from point A to point B -
Not Syncedto get to their goals.
-
Not SyncedSo, if he didn't believe in her,
how was he going to help her? -
Not SyncedAnd if he didn't help her,
how was she going to attain her goal? -
Not SyncedThis was the match
that ignited a forest fire -
Not Syncedof self-doubt, negative self-talk,
-
Not Syncedthat resulted in depression
that manifested itself -
Not Syncedin school avoidance,
of decrease in grades, -
Not Syncedand eventual lack of ability to engage
in the everyday life of this child. -
Not SyncedYou know what the ironic thing
is about this story? -
Not SyncedThis is my daughter's story.
-
Not SyncedForty years later,
-
Not Syncedthe words may have changed,
but the bias, the power, -
Not Syncedand the potential impact remain the same.
-
Not SyncedBut you know,
what's even worse about that -
Not Syncedis that my daughter's story is not unique.
-
Not SyncedThis story repeats itself
hundreds of times every year -
Not Syncedin the Rochester City School District
-
Not Syncedfor hundreds of students going in
with dreams and goals. -
Not SyncedThe thing is, the counselor
did not look at my child -
Not Syncedand did not look at
her academic record, -
Not Synceddid not look at it,
-
Not Syncedbut just because of the way,
what he saw when she walked in, -
Not Syncedcrushed her dream.
-
Not SyncedBut I don't want to leave you on a downer,
-
Not Syncedand I'm going to tell you,
there is hope, -
Not Syncedbecause what has been done
can be undone. -
Not SyncedOur brains are malleable.
-
Not SyncedThere are these incredible, incredible—
-
Not Synced[chuckling] even though
my brain is farting right now… -
Not Synced[audience laughs]
…they are incredible. -
Not SyncedThere are these incredible
capacity for growth and change. -
Not SyncedAnd so, you might say to me,
“Melanie, how do I do this?” -
Not SyncedFirst, what I want you to do
is to call yourself on your own stuff. -
Not SyncedWhen you're walking down the street
and you see that person coming -
Not Syncedand you cross over
to the other side of the street, -
Not Syncedcall yourself on it.
-
Not SyncedAsk yourself, “Why did I do that?
-
Not SyncedWhat did that person do
to facilitate that response from me?” -
Not SyncedAnd then once you've done that,
and you start looking at yourself — -
Not Syncedand I don't want you to think
I don't understand it — -
Not SyncedThis takes you being extremely self-aware,
-
Not SyncedBut once you do that,
-
Not Syncedyou start having these conversations
with your family and friends. -
Not SyncedIt's very easy to have these conversations
-
Not Syncedin the nice, warm, fuzzy
places of a TED Talk, -
Not Syncedbut it's much different to have it
-
Not Syncedat your Sunday dinner
with your mother-in-law, okay? -
Not Synced[audience laughs lightly]
-
Not SyncedWhat we're looking for,
we say we want to be better, -
Not Syncedbut in order to have this
better world we're talking about, -
Not Syncedwe must be better ourselves
and be better to each other. -
Not SyncedWe have to move into what I call
“transformational activism.” -
Not SyncedIn order to create a world with equity,
we must do some things. -
Not SyncedFirst, do your own personal work.
-
Not SyncedTwo, make some connections
with people that don't look like you. -
Not SyncedThree, when you have privilege,
use your privilege to create equity, -
Not SyncedAnd guess what:
many of you in this room have it. Use it. -
Not SyncedFour, intentionally and deliberately
engage in non-biasing activities. -
Not SyncedThat means, get out of homogeneous groups,
-
Not Syncedget into some heterogeneous groups
where not everybody's the same -
Not Syncedand start learning some stuff.
-
Not SyncedTake that stuff and share it with others.
-
Not SyncedI want to leave you with some
new language: “Ubuntu.” -
Not SyncedIt's a [unclear] Bantu word
that translates into the idea of, -
Not Synced“I am who I am
because of who we all are, -
Not Syncedand we are who we are
because of who I am.” -
Not SyncedIt talks about the interconnectedness
of us all. -
Not SyncedIt is one step beyond
“I am my brother and sister's keeper.” -
Not SyncedIt is, “I am my brother and sister
and they are me." -
Not SyncedI see you, I see myself.
-
Not SyncedWhen you look at yourself
next time, see me. -
Not Synced[audience applauds]
-
Not Synced♪ [music] ♪
- Title:
- Implicit Bias how it affects us and how we push through Melanie Funchess TEDxFlourCity HD 108
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 16:13
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