Discussing racial and ethnic differences and the disparate treatment of people of color can be difficult.
It’s one thing to put it out there that you love tomatoes or fast cars or hate kombucha. These are not emotionally charged matters – well, unless you’re a kombucha brewer.
It’s a far more sensitive matter to probe those unconscious, implicit biases around race and ethnicity. Yes, we’re talking about stereotypes but also the seemingly innocuous snap judgements that we all make every day in our jobs, in traffic, out shopping and recreating.
Picture this: A white woman crosses the street when she sees a young black man in a hoodie walking her way. A guard dismisses an outcry from a youth of color as histrionics. A teacher groans audibly in front of a youth of color who’s struggling to read at his grade level.
But was it really histrionics, or was there a serious emotional backdrop or event leading to that outburst? Was that young man really threatening or just cold? Was our young reader maybe brilliant reader in his native language?
It takes discussion to uncover the answers, because even the people making these negative associations and issuing spontaneous responses may not fully understand the genesis of their decisions.
Only by examining biases, and their attendant actions, say juvenile justice experts, can people find more equitable ways to treat youth of color who have traditionally faced disproportionate discipline and contact with the system.
“The biggest obstacle to reducing racial and ethnic disparities in this country and in the juvenile justice system is the hesitation and resistance that people have to talking about race as an issue,” says Mark Soler, a juvenile justice expert who has worked with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
The RED (Racial and Ethnic Disparities) Working Group at TJJD has taken up this counsel and has been creating new opportunities for employees to talk about these sensitive issues. It pinpointed a lack of discussion about race and ethnicity as a practice “gap” that group members see as affecting youth interventions, the treatment of youth and also intra-employee relations.
The good news is that recent town hall meetings at facilities to roll out RED have revealed that many people are eager to discuss these issues, said Shelley McKinley, head of the RED Working Group.
While the town meetings, led by local RED committee members, were a mere 15 minutes long, in some instances people lingered to chat long afterward.
At one event, she said, “the discussion lasted two hours. People were willing to talk.”