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SmallBites Lagniappe: Bias and My Son's Traffic Stop
When my son finally made it to me at the airport to pick me up after a wonderful week with the Jefferson County Public School educators, he hugged me hard and whispered these terrifying words into my neck; "Mom, I got pulled over."
Still shaken, he recounted the terror going through his brain ('just act normal, don't get shot') the menacing words of the officers ('cooperate with us, we'll cooperate with you'--why wouldn't he cooperate?) and the humiliation of standing in the high grass getting bit by Texas mosquitoes as they searched his car.
I wondered at his calm in recounting it, how he said they were only doing their job, that it was no big deal. I held him tightly, thankful that I still could. It was 15 or 20 minutes of his life. He made it to me. Why am I still not able to let it go?
It's because too many BIPOC drivers are pulled over and far too many encounters end tragically. It's because in similar countries, US police officers lead the world in the use of deadly force against civilians. It's because my son has been driving less than 3 months and neither officer thought to reassure him that he'd be fine.
What about educators? Are the discipline statistics similar in that the number of referrals in BIPOC communities are disproportionate? They are, and it's frightening. The bias that plays out on the streets between BIPOC communities and police is the same bias that plays out in classrooms each week between August and May.
What do you think about your students? What shoe box do you put them in? Is it a help or a hindrance to them? To you? To your school community? Where can you start if you want to learn about and mitigate your personal biases? Well, here are some tests you can take from the Harvard Implicit Project. Here is my favorite infographic on cognitive biases. And here is the SmallBites Bias Collection to get you started. Policing has its issues and departments are working on them. However, as an educator, I understand that change in K-12 equals change in policing and in every other industry.
It's almost time to go back into our classes, let's go back being more inclusive and less biased in service to us all.
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By Hedreich Nichols
5
22 ratings
When my son finally made it to me at the airport to pick me up after a wonderful week with the Jefferson County Public School educators, he hugged me hard and whispered these terrifying words into my neck; "Mom, I got pulled over."
Still shaken, he recounted the terror going through his brain ('just act normal, don't get shot') the menacing words of the officers ('cooperate with us, we'll cooperate with you'--why wouldn't he cooperate?) and the humiliation of standing in the high grass getting bit by Texas mosquitoes as they searched his car.
I wondered at his calm in recounting it, how he said they were only doing their job, that it was no big deal. I held him tightly, thankful that I still could. It was 15 or 20 minutes of his life. He made it to me. Why am I still not able to let it go?
It's because too many BIPOC drivers are pulled over and far too many encounters end tragically. It's because in similar countries, US police officers lead the world in the use of deadly force against civilians. It's because my son has been driving less than 3 months and neither officer thought to reassure him that he'd be fine.
What about educators? Are the discipline statistics similar in that the number of referrals in BIPOC communities are disproportionate? They are, and it's frightening. The bias that plays out on the streets between BIPOC communities and police is the same bias that plays out in classrooms each week between August and May.
What do you think about your students? What shoe box do you put them in? Is it a help or a hindrance to them? To you? To your school community? Where can you start if you want to learn about and mitigate your personal biases? Well, here are some tests you can take from the Harvard Implicit Project. Here is my favorite infographic on cognitive biases. And here is the SmallBites Bias Collection to get you started. Policing has its issues and departments are working on them. However, as an educator, I understand that change in K-12 equals change in policing and in every other industry.
It's almost time to go back into our classes, let's go back being more inclusive and less biased in service to us all.