Cutting the Bull — When Implicit Bias is Used to Euphemize White Supremacy

Implicit bias is being used interchangeably with Racially discriminatory behavior, known and explicit in its prejudice, and implicit bias as a term is nothing more than another attempt at disinfecting White Supremacism and Racism by making it appear animosity occurs without any prior awareness.

Dr. Cynthia Alease Smith
15 min readNov 1, 2023

It always gives me pause whenever I come across the terms “unconscious bias” or “implicit bias” when it comes to Race in general, and specifically Race as Color and Race as Character. It is important at the outset to distinguish between the kinds of bias whose origins are benign, like favoring frozen yogurt over gelato, or even the desire to date tall men over short men. Everyone has biases that rest in the recesses of the mind, some are always present and others only surface when the subject meets the bias head-on.

This essay discusses the terms when used to mislead the public into believing Racial bias falls within the category of implicit and/or unconscious because these terms are also the go-to explanations for expressions of Racial hostility by people identifying as white toward Black people today. As far…

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Dr. Cynthia Alease Smith
Dr. Cynthia Alease Smith

Written by Dr. Cynthia Alease Smith

Anti-Racism Essayist & Educator offering discussions about Race, Racism, White Supremacy and the language used, from perspectives not ordinarily considered.

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