A Conversation With Denise Evans on Implicit Bias

Denise Evans

Denise Evans is a trained facilitator, public health educator and Truth Racial Healing Transformation Racial Healing Circles practitioner. She has specialized training in health equity and social justice, cultural intelligence,  and unconscious/implicit bias. 

For the past 20 years, she has worked diligently to join community organizers, faith-based organizations and public health professionals together to disrupt systems of oppression and build a more equitable future for those living in our nation’s most vulnerable communities. 

She holds graduate degrees from the Southern California School of Ministry and Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.  She has been recognized for her accomplishments as co-author in the Maternal and Child Health Journal, received the Woman of Influence Award from Cornerstone University, the Community Leadership Award from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and was recognized by the Kent County Health Department for her passionate and tireless work to eliminate health inequities and the corresponding racialized outcomes that plague our nation. She officially launched Consult Me, LLC and provides training, education, and ecumenical support in the areas of equity, justice, bias, and microaggressions with the ability to incorporate a theological lens for communities of faith.  

You recently gave a presentation at the Healing Racism Summit, held in mid-November 2020, through the SHARE (Society for History and Racial Equity) organization. The main focus of your presentation was on implicit bias. Could you give us a working definition of what it is?

Implicit Biases are the “attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner.” They are the unconscious assumptions that we have about others that can skew our understanding and unintentionally affect our behavior and judgment.

 

You also mentioned that implicit biases have a tendency to increase during stressful times. And that because of this relationship, there can be a huge difference between the intent of our actions, and the result. Could this be contributing to increased societal polarization that we’re experiencing in our world today?

What a great question! The research shows us that our biases are more likely to show up when we are in cognitive overload; when we are tired, overly stressed, or under pressure. I believe strongly that we are in the midst of a perfect storm. Between the highly publicized, increased amount of police violence against unarmed Black men and women, the over-policing of BIPOC communities, the increase of ICE in communities of color, COVID 19, the stress of isolation during this pandemic, high infant mortality and maternal morbidity rates, the loss of housing and jobs during this economic downturn – and the recent events at the capitol building in Lansing, and at the US capitol in D.C.

We are all suffering from multiple traumas and secondary traumas. We are all under tremendous levels of stress and as such we are more likely to see implicit biases show up.

 

Do you think that the reality of implicit bias, combined with the Covid-19 pandemic had any influence on the worldwide demonstrations in support of Black Lives Matter, especially after the death of George Floyd earlier this year?

I believe strongly that since a large number of Americans and other global citizens were at home glued to our televisions and other news outlets for information about the COVID 19 pandemic, we were better postured to slow our thinking down and truly see and hear some of the cries of BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) communities differently. We have witnessed murders previously in living color, but I believe that something different happened this time as we were isolated in our homes. Concerns about our loved ones and friends seemed to open our hearts, and touch our minds, and emotions differently. 

You mentioned George Floyd in particular but there are so many others whose names we may have forgotten. But let us remember our own daughter, sister, friend - Brianna Taylor, originally from our area, murdered in her own home in Louisville, Kentucky. We have a plethora of examples of heinous social and societal ills in abundance that confirmed for our late adopters that the white supremacist culture has taken a toll on us all and turned our lives upside down. I believe that given all the variables, we were more empathetic to the suffering of families and we were, as a collective, reminiscent of the 1960’s peaceful protests, we were finally ready to stand together and speak out against the injustices that we could no longer deny. We had previously been distracted by the reality of our busy lives and the pandemic caused us to sit still in the grief and pain of others long enough to weigh the evidence differently and with an open heart. We gave it more of our attention and I believe and pray that it has forever changed many of us for the better.

 

You mentioned that biases, conscious and unconscious, are linked to perceptions. it would seem that during a time of severe stress, like we’re experiencing now, individuals would be less inclined to recognize biases. What does your experience say about this connection?

I think that it is the opposite. We have had perceptions that included a lot of blaming the individual for their “current state” and did not leave room for us to take into account that there are societal factors and systems of oppression that have been in play for centuries. We have had to wrestle with realizations like our Navaho brothers and sisters living on reservations where one in three southwestern Navajo citizens do not have indoor plumbing – thus being unable to frequently wash their hands during a pandemic. And lest we forget, many of our West Michigan traditional indigenous stewards, the Anishinaabek, the Council of the Three Fires which include the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Bodewadomi, also known as Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi Tribes suffering from some of the same lack of needed resources. This is due to a long-standing systemic marginalization of peoples that happen in many communities of color and poorer communities across our nation.

 

How about the issue of micro-aggressions (insults, devaluing messages, etc.) leading to inequities? I wonder to what extent micro-aggressions have driven politics/life in general lately?

Implicit biases often show up in the form of microaggressions - the subtle, semi-conscious, devaluing messages that we send to others that can lead to imbalances or inequities in our relationships with others. Although I cannot speak definitively about this year’s political climate definitively, I can say that the last four years have unleashed a different spirit and tenor. It has been a particularly venomous spewing of hate-mongering that I believe emanated from the implicit biases and struggles. If I were to make an educated guess based on available data, I would say that much of our social and societal behaviors are learned and originate from the exposures we have had throughout our life course. These thoughts are pervasive and go unchallenged in our unconscious thoughts – and are further supported when we do as studies show most of us do – we hear one tidbit of information that seems to agree with our previously held ideas and then allow confirmation bias to take over. With that in mind, our learned stereotypes, biases, and prejudices that reside deep in our unconscious brains operate automatically, unconsciously, and of course without our permission. Keep in mind that implicit bias is NOT the same as conscious discrimination and oppression – which would be a whole-other-interview.

 

In your presentation, you mentioned several ways to help counteract implicit bias. Such as: acknowledging them, recognizing them and checking our assumptions that come from implicit bias, understanding our culture, and actively committing to not stereotype. Did you want to speak about any of these solutions?

The most important thing to do in times of stress to reduce our biases is to slow our thinking down. Give our brains a chance to move from the heightened state of fight or flight in the reptilian brain to thinking more slowly and rationally in the conscious brain.

 

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

If you haven’t had a chance to take a few Implicit Association Tests (IAT), challenge yourself to do so. IATs can be found on the Project Implicit website. Also, if given the opportunity to learn more about implicit biases please take advantage of those opportunities. Get a few books from reputable authors on the subject and begin to learn about populations in your community that have been historically marginalized because of their group status. We need to create identity safe environments where people are safe bringing their whole selves to work and play where they live.

If you’d like more information on how to connect with Denise Evans and Consult Me, LLC please reach out to: info@consultmellc.com for more information.