The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias

Chapter 6 begins with the story of Jodi Picoult, a best-selling author of moral fiction. Jodi was unaware of systemic racism and did not engage with issues of racism in her writing until she had conversations with her son, Kyle, and his husband, Kevin, who is of Portuguese and Columbian descent. Kevin invited Jodi to an anti-racism seminar, where they heard from people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, including an Asian woman who found her eyes unattractive, and a Black woman who girded herself every day to cope with racial stereotyping. These stories did not conform to Jodi’s notion of racism. Moreover, they made her realize that she was part of the racist system they described. The seminar alerted Jodi to systemic racism and her own privilege. Rather than avoid the discomfort and ignore the problem, however, she adopted a growth mindset, listened, and learned. She later wrote a book titled Small Great Things, which centers racism in its plot.

Psychologists describe three phases of white racial identity development. The first is characterized by a lack of awareness of race, color-blindness, and a belief in meritocracy. Self-threat is high during this phase, as is the tendency to ignore negative relevant information.