Racial Equity Policy That Moves Implicit Bias Beyond a Metaphor for Individual Prejudice to a Means of Exposing Structural Oppression

Abstract

This case study follows a district racial equity initiative from policy formulation through implementation, and finally to the review of a high school discipline measure. The initiative had a consistent theme of addressing implicit bias. However, over time, district equity champions expanded the definition of implicit bias beyond its conventional meaning of subconscious prejudices and perceptions that may influence action. These champions came to identify policies, practices, and curriculum that presumed and privileged underlying White norms, and were thus implicitly biased. Hence, implicit bias became evident in powerful structural racism across the school system.