When we’re born, we don’t get to pick our parents, race, or sex. Our first points of socialization are family members or other people closest to us. When we’re very young, we have little control over what seeps into our unconscious, from not only family but friends, schools, houses of worship, television, and more. All that starts to shape our values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.

It’s why we all have biases of some kind, and it is our responsibility to unlearn them, said Maritsa Barros, the inaugural full-time lecturer in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Leadership Program, during a recent workshop under the Tufts Inclusive Education Series (TIES).

“These biases can lead to mental shortcuts and automatic thinking,” she said. “But you can move to a more liberated mindset and be intentional, where you're conscious about what you're thinking, interrupting your biases, and questioning why you believe certain things. You don't have to shame or guilt yourself for having bias. But it's imperative that you shift or reject it, even if strikes conflict or discourse with other people.”

“Tools and Strategies for Addressing Racial Inequity,” the last of the three-part series from the Office of the Vice Provost for Institutional Inclusive Excellence, focused on how individuals can advance racial equity in their own practices and create more racially inclusive environments in the university and beyond.

“This conversation of how we understand ourselves, no matter what our racial identities are, is critically important at this time,” said Monroe France, vice provost for institutional inclusive excellence. “Institutionally, we have been on a journey as we’ve thought about how we respond to racism. How we get better at it is standing in the conversation, committing to ongoing learning, staying open to the possibilities, and leaning into the nuance and the complexity.”

The Oct. 25 discussion was led by Barros and André M. Harper, who is also a full-time lecturer in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Leadership Program at Tufts. Barros holds an Ed.D. in education and has a background in psychology, counseling, and African & African American history. Harper is an international executive coach and a Fulbright alum with an Ed.D. in organization and leadership and an Ed.D. in higher education executive leadership.

Their goals for the workshop were to share the history of race, its construction, identities, and how we've been socialized to understand its significance in the U.S., as well as provide actual steps to mitigate racial bias and other forms of oppression and hate on campus. They encouraged a mindset of cultural humility and curiosity and emphasized that interrupting biases is ongoing, lifelong work.

Understanding Race as a Social Construct

“We are humans, but I describe myself as a hue-man,” said Barros. “I'm recognizing the truth that race is not a real thing. It has been constructed. That hue represents the different shades that have been used as a tool to weaponize and divide our country.”

Harper elaborated on that point during his presentation, which identified race as a concept that symbolizes sociopolitical conflicts and interests in reference to different types of human bodies, citing research by author and University of California professor Howard Winant: 

“Though intimated throughout the world in immovable ways, racial categorization of human beings was a European invention,” said Harper. “It was an outcome of the same world historical processes that created European nation states and empires, built the dark and satanic mills of Britain and the even more dark and satanic sugar mills of the Brazilian Recôncavo and the Caribbean, and explained it all by means of enlightenment and rationality.”

He pointed out that the notion that race is a biological aspect has been disproven through scientific means for many years. While there is no biological basis for distinguishing humans by race, there are still perceptions of what race means across the globe. He provided examples of cultural differences from an international lens outlining DEI from Japan, Iceland, India, and many African countries.  

Barros and Harper asked the workshop participants to think about the first time in their lives when they realized race matters, or a time they witnessed or experienced racial inequity. One student shared that their first memory of race was entering elementary school at a predominantly white institution and realizing they looked different than most of their classmates. Many others in attendance echoed in agreement.

Building Intercultural Skills

Barros and Harper cautioned that bias tends to arise amid particular circumstances, including unstructured or ambiguous processes, time-pressured or stressful situations, and subjective decision-making. They advised not putting labels on the bias, like good or bad, because it’s a part of being.

Building racial literacy, as author and scholar Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz’s Racial Literacy Model dives into, is one way to interrupt racial biases, Harper said, and the tenet of racial literacy development is to question assumptions. This means stopping yourself and asking, is this correct? Have I engaged with someone from a marginalized perspective to understand their stance? Or am I making assumptions based on things I heard as a child? Harper pointed out that Critical Love forms the foundation of Racial Literacy Development, emphasizing that while the term "love" is frequently used, it is often overused and misunderstood. 

Harper also suggested addressing bias in others by telling a counter story. 

“Don't let somebody else tell your story for you,” he said. “Today’s technology can be a tool for people who come from marginalized perspectives to share who they are and say, ‘This is my story. What you're saying is not my narrative.’” 

Barros explained that racial literacy is built through practice and commitment, and much like physical fitness, it requires intentional exercise to deepen self-awareness and develop intercultural skills. She also said that there are three levels to doing this work.

“There's the level of self, which you have full control over. Anytime you're feeling hopeless or that you don't have the power to create change, figure out what you can do for yourself internally to help move progress,” she said. “Another is spheres of influence. You can only positively influence and tap into your spheres if you're developing yourself.”

The third piece applies more to corporations and departments, and it’s to slow down and ask yourself: Did you do the assessment, gather feedback, and ask questions? It is important to create structured processes that create opportunities for intentional examination of one’s biases.

Previous TIES workshops focused on addressing antisemitism and addressing anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias.