There is bigotry, which has a level of intentional animosity (know it well), and there are unconscious biases. That is the case of treating other kinds of people differently even when we are horrified that we could have done such a thing when it is brought to our attention. I should try to be aware of such biases because so many of my students are black and I'm white.
Shankar Vedantam on NPR's Morning Edition says there is a way to combat unconscious biases. That is to expose ourselves to "counterstereotypical" images and messages. The one described in this program is a female construction worker, complete with hardhat, spending her lunchtime nursing her baby.
Alas, I'm not sure where I would find such images that would help me and my students.
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