My Complicated Feelings about Inequity

My wife asked me the other day if I felt like I have experienced racism throughout my life. Being someone who generally likes to look at the bright side and who (quite frankly) was a little bit of an airhead growing up, it took me a bit to think about the different times that I or my family has experienced racism.

There are obvious times like when a kid on my little league football team made fun of my eyes and made stereotypical Asian sounds. Or when after 9/11, when they were doing “random” bag checks on passengers and both of my older brothers had TSA agents rifle through their things on their way back to college after break. Or the time when I started a new job and someone asked me repeatedly “Where are you from” and wouldn’t stop asking me after I kept responding that I am from Sterling, Virginia (admittedly, I didn’t even register this one immediately so maybe I’m still a bit of an airhead?). But until I started really thinking about it, I didn’t realize how influential the topic has been for me throughout my life.

The Problem

Let’s just start at this point: Inequity exists to a great degree in this country. White supremacy exists in this country. We make decisions based off of horribly superficial characteristics. It exists inherently in the ways that we create systems and in the way that we implement systems. It is in the way that we continually witness violence against racial and gender minorities. We have the capability to avoid these issues through decades of research, and yet on a societal level we have done very little.

…which is confusing to me. After the history of our country involving slavery, The Trail of Tears, the “Japanese” internment camps, xenophobia for groups like the Irish, voting rights issues, discrimination against the LGBTQ community, discrimination against Muslims, we are still having to say that minority groups shouldn’t be treated differently than anyone else, that the things minority groups bring to the table matter just as much as a white person or males in this country. Do we really have to call out that Black Lives Matter? Should I ever have to say6 that we should stop Asian hate?

And let me be clear about something. As a social psychologist, I do not believe that we will ever get rid of any and all prejudice. Everyone has initial thoughts about what a group different than their own is going to be like. Everyone has some degree of hesitation and caution about people that are different than them. In-groups are extremely easy to form. For example, in research studies they do things like give people a name tag, ask them to make up a group name, and write their group name on the name tags. That group of people with the same group name immediately creates in-group/out-group behaviors. So, it makes sense that when someone looks or sounds different that we immediately have that reaction. And there will always be a new group that will be the out-group.

The issue is that we are too cognitively lazy to break down that categorization, at times myself included. We don’t take the time to see that many rituals at their core are fundamentally the same. Or that we have commonalities in the things that we believe and hope for. And that our differences can always be acknowledged without hating on each other. It really doesn’t take much time to do… if we want to do it and put in the effort to do so. The refusal or inability to do this feels more and more like cowardice than standing your ground. Nobody should have to die because of it. Nobody should have to forfeit careers because of it. Nobody should have to forgo hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of their career because of lazy ignorance.

We have a severe issue in this country with critically evaluating information and creating status where it doesn’t need to be. It is the single biggest reason why I constantly teach my kids that you do not need to do what everyone else is doing and to think about the things going on in your environment. I even tell them to question the things I tell them to do to see if it makes sense. (They take that one a little too seriously sometimes. Bedtime shouldn’t be that difficult). It is the same thing that drives me crazy about politics. Why does anyone just vote based purely on a candidate being the same party? Again, I get the heuristic that the party system can give you but stop voting just because someone is in the same party as you. Evaluate the options. Think for yourself and make an informed decision. Does that superficial title of republican or democrat sway you so much? Forget the title. Look at what and who you are voting for. Superficial characteristics don’t matter.

Some Understanding

I am not perfect on these matters either. In a lot of ways, I feel for my Caucasian friends out there, the vast majority of whom are truly trying to do their best to be inclusive and helpful on this topic. I have had some reach out to me and ask how I’m doing. I have had friends donate money to groups that help with these types of issues.

When things like the attacks on Asian-Americans happen, I think it becomes a difficult line to walk to start these conversations. I have made my share of inappropriate comments trying to be funny. I don’t expect people to be perfect, but I do expect people to course correct and get better. I happen to be one that likes to laugh at himself and the things that others find unusual. But it has made me think about my own cognitive laziness and my part of the problem.

I have seen many people in religious and political ideologies too frequently find things wrong with other groups just to find things wrong with other groups. There is no room for that in world where we are more connected than ever. I have seen people in my own church say disparaging things about other minority groups in the name of religion. That shouldn’t be the case.

None of these weaknesses means that we should attack each other.

The Problem Applied

“But Brandon, it shouldn’t be about race or gender in the workplace, right? It should be about who is doing good work.” A true statement that is too often applied incorrectly.

In order for that statement above to work, the systems that we have in our organizations need to be designed to focus in on defining and measuring work performance accurately. If the systems aren’t even set up the right way, then you can just say “well it’s not about minority vs. majority” because it will inherently be about it or some other form of bias. Even algorithms can have built-in bias if we don’t critically evaluate them (see my post on it here: Algorithmic Fairness). The systems also need to be executed correctly.

We still see people today being passed over for jobs, promotions, and opportunities because of things that aren’t related to doing the job well. We still have women getting paid a lot less than their male counterparts. Of all the inequity issues that exist, that one bothers me the most because it should be the easiest one to fix. Let’s be honest here, does anyone realistically think that the US Women’s National Soccer Team should be getting less than the Men’s team based on results at this point? When was the last time that the Men’s team even made any noise in a meaningful tournament? The Women’s team not only makes noise at every single tournament; they are expected to win every. single. tournament. Just pay them what they’re worth. Equal pay for equal work should be a given and we should have a better understanding of what that performance actually means.

The principle should be applied more broadly as well. Hire people for the best set of skills and abilities that can meet the requirements of the job. That is the goal of hiring and selecting people. Stop making it related to superficial characteristics. No one’s race has anything to do with how well they are able to perform. Neither does someone’s gender or sexual orientation. Sometimes, degree might be. But I have even met people with master’s degrees that I would take over some of the PhDs for the type of work that I do. But if you take the lazy route and only look at a degree, you will miss on someone with great skills. Ask yourself if you would rather have the skills to do the job or the right letters behind someone’s name. In some cases, those two may not be the same thing.

Don’t get me wrong here, often times those with PhDs in my field are generally going to be a better fit than people with a masters for research-based roles. But that’s a generality, a heuristic. It’s a mental shortcut. If you don’t actually evaluate those skills then you’ll end up missing the real point of what you are doing. Whether it’s gender, race, school you attended, degree type, field of study, political affiliation, haircut, body type, age, it does not matter. We are going to miss on talent and perpetuate minority issues in this country if we don’t get focused on the real things that matter. Discriminate and differentiate based on who can do the job and nothing else.

And that’s not even touching the fact that the pandemic has disproportionately affected women and minorities’ conditions far more than Caucasians. We need systems that are created for the right purposes and are executed according to those purposes.

Solutions: Here They Are

If you are disadvantaging minority groups: stop it.

If you are wondering if you are disadvantaging minority groups and considering taking a look at your own systems: just do it.

Yeah, I know it’s corny. But seriously, we are capable of making choices and specifically of making these types of choices well. We need to just put in the effort.

As always, thanks for reading.

–Brandon
Subscribe to the blog below!