Lauren Bustad

Arizona State University

OGL 350

Module 2: Paper

October 27th, 2021

Part One:

We are all so different, that in so many ways, it ends up with us having more similarities

than we think. No matter who we are, we have bias’. No matter what background we come from,

or even how much of a bias related struggle we have lived through, we all have bias’. It’s part of

being human. I think its important to note the definitions of prejudice and discrimination.

Prejudice is having an opinion that isn’t based on fact or reason. Discrimination is acting in a

way that puts the other person at a disadvantage due to the prejudiced opinion. Having a biased

opinion, or a prejudiced opinion are pretty much the same things.

I’ve done a lot of personal work and research into unconscious bias and how we can work

through them. The first step is being aware. Like I said, having these inclinations is human

nature. I think it's important to also remember that being prejudiced comes in more ways than

just being racially prejudiced. Anything you can think of about a person, is a form of prejudice.

Do you judge someone based on the type of shoes they wear? Do you judge them on if they have

curly hair or straight hair? Do you assume a teenager is going to act a certain way in certain

situations?

As discussed in The Challenge of Detecting Contemporary Forms of Discrimination,

“contemporary forms of discrimination can often times appear, ironically, to be

nondiscriminatory, detecting the subtle manifestations of discrimination, and understanding the

true consequences of these behaviors, has proven difficult.” (Nier, Gaertner, 2012.) We have all

experienced, and probably said a simple joke or comment that could be taken as discrimination.

The person who the joke was targeted at even probably laughed and at the time it was seen as no

big deal. However, I think it's important to be aware of those comments, and be aware of the
bigger picture. Who someone is - including the way they look, their beliefs, and their background

- is not a joking matter. One small joke, even if the person finds it funny, gives permission for

bigger jokes. It gives permission for more people to make those jokes, and for the stereotypes to

grow in people's minds and for the bias to be deepened.

From that state of jokes, and a perception of a certain feature or asset of someones life, it

grows into discrimination. The perception that black people are less important than white people

has been prevalent for years. That is a built up, biased situation, that people continue feeding into

with jokes and small comments.

The readings this week, especially this one about contemporary discrimination has been

really eye opening. I think it's important to recognize where we see these things in our day to day

life, and how we can get out of those negative habits.

I personally am aware of my privilege a lot. As you work through your own biases you

begin to be more aware of the privilege you have against your own bias. I have a lot of friends

who are minorities, or have just lived different lives than I have and been discriminated against

because of that. Although I am aware of my privileged situation, especially as a white person, I

wouldn’t say that I have ever felt like I really stood out and gained something due to that

specifically. I have felt discriminated against because of being a woman. A few years ago I was

part of a group of leaders at my work who got together once a month with our district manager,

and we worked together to grow through our own roadblocks as leaders and just leaned on each

other. The point of this was to create a leadership community in our area and our individual goals

were eventually to move up in the company. Time and time again, I personally felt like I was

being passed on by the district manager due to being a female. There was clear favoritism
towards the males, whether that has to do with genitals or the (stereotypical) way that men bond

together and are generally louder in a group of people, I won’t know. But either way, me being a

female, or me being quieter than others in a group setting should not determine my ability as a

leader. Yet, I felt like it did, and years later, I still haven’t been promoted.

Simply reading through some of the stories of individuals on the New York Times

website is absolutely jarring. The way that people can be treated, just for the color of their skin,

or the spelling of their last name is honestly disgusting. The story of Steven Friedman stood out

to me. He recounts his experience in saying something extremely racist to a teacher in 7th grade

and how he worked through and overcame those biases. He had those biases in him at a really

young age, and he still had to put in a lot of work to get past them. He probably didn’t even

realize at the time that what he was saying was a racist comment, and we can probably feel the

same way sometimes. We may just be making a joke to be funny. But we may not realize that

what we are saying is a joke at the expense of someone else, and that's not okay.

On the racial test activity, the result I got was a slight automatic preference of white

people over black. My first observation from this test is that a few of the questions/options were

a little confusing to me. Some of them said “Most white people xyz.” To me that felt like I was

answering what I think most other white people felt, but I didn’t feel like I necessarily agreed

with that. Overall though, I am not upset with the results, I think I probably do have a slight

preference to white people because I am a white person.

Part Two:

The main organization I am involved in where I feel like this is prevalent is my work.

Although we discussed the steps Starbucks has taken in our discussion this week. The company
taking steps to eliminate racial bias doesn’t make it nonexistent among individuals. Before

working at Starbucks, my friend Randi could never understand how I had so many loyal and

loving friends through my work. She felt like something was wrong with her because she could

never form connections with her coworkers the way I could. Once she started working at

Starbucks, she understood. Our environment is unlike any other. We are called partners because

we are shareholders in the company, but also because we are just that, partners. Partners through

the chaos, through the angry customers, through the ups and downs of a global pandemic. We

really are a team. Being able to be so close with your team is an amazing feeling, and like I said,

I’ve formed lasting friendships through my work. However, it can also come at a cost. When

you’re comfortable, your guard slips, and when your guard slips, you say things you maybe

shouldn’t. If the other person laughs, you create a safe place amongst yourselves to say whatever

you want. But again, jokes are never okay at the expense of someone else, even if they don’t

know about the joke. That is why the training we do at Starbucks is so important to the

community we create as partners. We strive to be an inclusive environment for our partners and

our customers, and we cannot do that if we are allowing ourselves to be biased against each

other.
References:

Nier, J.A. and Garetner, SL. (2012). The Challenge of Detecting Contemporary Forms of

Discrimination. Journal of Social Issues. Vol. 62, Issue 2, 202-220

“Conversations On Race.” New York Times,

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/your-stories/conversations-on-race?nytapp=t

rue.