UNBIAS

CHAPTER 2Start with Unconscious Bias?

So, you want to offer unconscious bias training for your organization? You are not alone. Like you and your company, the world collectively woke up on May 25, 2020, with the tragic murder of George Floyd. Or maybe it took your company a little bit longer to get to the realization there is a deep disconnect in society and it has been negatively impacting your workplace for many years.

Prior to May 25, 2020, it was a little easier to ignore the calls for social justice. It was easier to believe that “this is a workplace, and we don't need to address that here.” Or you may have been one of the company leaders who was working on change before May 2020 but were spurred along to act more quickly, whether you liked it or not.

While May 25, 2020, may have been a lightning strike, the dry brush was already smoldering. There was a demand for marriage equality, a push to destigmatize hiring recently incarcerated individuals, and we watched the privileged cheat their way into college, alongside the realization that attending a high‐ranked university doesn't equate to career success. The amalgamation of these realities, in addition to the Black Lives Matter movement, started a fire companies can no longer ignore.

George Floyd Sparked a Global Outcry

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, died after a white police officer, in an attempt to arrest him, knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as he lay on a sidewalk in Minneapolis, ...