Why I don’t like unconscious bias training - a thread. 1. No one speaks to WHY organizations & companies are doing the anti-bias training to begin with. So it’s devoid of social and political context - like an oopsies just a surprise!

2. It gives those in positions of power a false sense of understanding - “all of us have it so it can’t be mad!” 3. It’s actually about race - are we REALLY talking about gender & patriarchy? Are we REALLY talking about disability justice. Be real here it’s a way to avoid race.

3. It assumes everyone participating in a work environment has the same level of power - instead of it in fact being a response to large critiques and claims of powerlessness.

4. The focus is on individual level awareness but how do you act on unconscious bias really? There’s no work to connect it to systems of power, structural racism and there is no push to action and accountability.

5. What do you do with it? In the same way it shows up as an afterthought and without context, people leaving the training are left with no practical applicable solutions on what they have a requirement to do next. “I know I have unconscious bias” but so does everybody!”

And yes - I say requirement. If you think white people have no obligation to take direct, swift and immediate action. You do. You must. There’s nothing else on the table. Perhaps that’s why people enjoy anti-bias training so much - that truth won’t hit you in the face at the end.

And even that is a luxury - to use a training to see the humanity and violence that Black, racialized and indigenous communities face all day every day. Even that is enough of a reason to ban anti-bias training forever. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.