Standing Up (or staying seated)
This week marks the beginning of Black History Month in the US, UK, and Canada. I originally posted this image and the below words five years ago, in 2016. Sitting here in 2021, everything’s changed. And nothing’s changed. Except this time, more people are standing up…
I came across this modern depiction of Rosa Parks, and it makes me want to invite her to my “If you could have dinner with four people, dead or alive…” dinner party.
The reason why she had to say, “Nah” in 1955 is deplorable and unthinkable to educated people today. Yet still, I challenge the claim that we’ve corrected it entirely. Unconscious bias exists around and in all of us. And please note that I do not pose this as a question. It’s a statement.
One of the most prominent places that unconscious bias lives is at work. It presides across all minorities and shows up in unequal pay, our perceptions of what the boss “should” look like, and our choice of language. And if you’re one of those people who proclaim with certainty, “I do not have biases,” you do. As do I. And this test is one way to start thinking about it.
Thank you for saying, “Nah,” Rosa Parks. We still have so much to do, but your courageous act of standing up, 65 years ago, shows us the great responsibility we have to complete your legacy.
