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Erika Bridges

Professor Sylvia

Employment Relations

15 October 2020

Extra Credit: Unconscious Bias

There were several takeaways I had from watching these videos on unconscious bias. I

also called up my grandparents who are 79 and 85 years old to speak on their experiences with

racism growing up.

One thing that put this issue into perspective was that I did not realize that black people

had to think about how they will act during the day before they even leave their houses in the

morning, so as not to upset or offend a white person, or cause suspicion. Blacks may feel that

they need to blend in or be perfect around others. Of course, not every black person feels this

way. It depends on where you live, your upbringing and morals that were enforced at a young

age.

In the PBS NewsHour video, two millennials our age were shown a video about college

students showing blatant racism. They said that our generation isn’t supposed to be racist or

prejudiced; that this video should not represent our generation. And if someone does feel bias

toward someone, then they should be intelligent enough in this day and age not to voice it. I

think racism is just as prevalent today and we just don’t realize it because it is “quieter racism”,

or is done behind people’s backs.

What we don’t realize is that the time of explicit racism was so recent. I decided that

speaking to my grandparents about this issue was a good idea to see it through the eyes of people

who lived through this time. There were 200 men in my grandfather’s Army company in the
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early ‘50s of every color, race and religion. There were just as many blacks as there were whites

and Latinos stationed in Puerto Rico. “We all got along wonderfully,” said my grandfather.

This is fantastic, but the reality of segregation soon hit my grandfather in a way he hadn’t

see coming. In 1955, he and his buddies were given time off the Army base. One day, they were

going into town in Columbia, South Carolina. My grandfather wanted to sit in the back of the

bus, but the bus driver said he couldn’t cross the “black line” and had to sit before it. My

grandfather thought that was absolutely ridiculous and continued moving toward the back, but a

black lady seated before him said that the driver wouldn’t move the bus if he didn’t turn around.

These experiences showed my grandfather that you can come from the affluent town of

Newton, Massachusetts with no blacks, and give them the same respect you would give another

white. But you could also travel a few states south and encounter a whole different world that

you never knew existed. My grandfather was never exposed to this, so there was no way he

could’ve had any unconscious bias.

A quote that I found memorable in the NowThis News video, in reference to public spaces

was “Being allowed in doesn’t always mean being welcomed,” as evidenced by the woman on

the public bus in 1955 South Carolina.

Now that I think about it, neither my grandparents, nor my parents had ever mentioned

the issue of racism growing up. If we want racism to end with the next generation then we should

start talking about it at a young age to prevent unconscious bias.

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