Racial biases have long become ‘a thing’ in the US internal social policy, and this ‘thing’ proceeds with getting more attention. There are wide public discussions regarding racial prejudices in every imaginable sphere of life, such as work, education, healthcare, and even some surprisingly specific areas like the detection of hate speech, machine learning, and pulse oximetry measuring (Lee, 2018). However, this utmost social attention to the topic does not change the root of the problem. Unfortunately, there are still devoted believers in white supremacy in US society.
In general, hatred, prejudices, and biases mostly appear in the white communities with a lack of financial support from the government, which is among the poorest or least advantaged groups. The prevailing mass of people usually silently disapproves of hatred or biases. Still, no one stops the haters when they become determined to hate. Haters use the tools available to them, such as responsibilities related to the performance of job duties. Kubota et al. (2013) state that “stereotypes about Black Americans may influence perceptions of intent during financial negotiations,” discussing the relations in the monetary Ultimatum Game (p. 2498). In my personal reality, there is not much place for economic consequences from racial biases, since one can always change the path to the goal and avoid clashes with bureaucrats.
However, hatred or contempt due to racial prejudice can significantly impact the mood and being accommodated – the quality of life. Therefore, our society should overcome this problem, for example, by imposing fines for manifestations of explicit racial hatred and biases. Fines and community service can convince abusive colleagues or people who use their official positions. Reputational warnings and monetary compensations can persuade companies that deny career development or employment, and firms and individuals that provide housing and other contracts. On a personal level, an individual cannot overcome racial biases because it is a social problem, a problem of rejection of some groups of people by other groups. The only way to ‘cope’ is through emotional withdrawal or seeking support from loved ones and friends. But this approach is doomed because it ignores the most important element of racial biases – its group, public-social character.
References
Kubota, J. T., Li, J., Bar-David, E., Banaji, M. R., & Phelps, E. A. (2013). The price of racial bias: Intergroup negotiations in the ultimatum game. Psychological Science, 24(12), 2498-2504.
Lee, N. T. (2018). Detecting racial bias in algorithms and machine learning. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 16(3), 252-260.