You're walking in front of a lot of people. You tell yourself, "Don't trip. Don't trip." But what happens?

GIF from "The 85th Academy Awards."

That anxiety is real. You're so worried about embarrassing yourself or doing something wrong that you get distracted and make careless mistakes.

It happens to the best of us.


Their intentions are good. (But you know what they say about good intentions.) They don't want to mispronounce a name, say something even remotely offensive, or appear the least bit uninformed. They have black friends — honest-to-goodness black friends!

GIF from "Happy Endings."

But when some white people interact with people of color, they're so nervous about appearing racist, their anxiety can shoot through the roof.




It probably looked a little something like this. Photo by Connor Einarsen/Flickr (cropped).


Why did this happen? Lead researcher Dr. Gordon Moskowitz believes it's likely due to race-related anxiety (or what some refer to as "white fragility"). People are so worried about making a mistake and appearing racist, they get nervous and can trip themselves up and do just what they were trying to avoid.

GIF from "Parks & Recreation."

“Ironically, people trying to suppress the appearance of bias are most likely to display this form of implicit bias because their motivation to control prejudice induces race-related arousal,” Moskowitz wrote in the study results.




Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.


Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.


It may sound like a big jump, but consider this:

Bryant Heyward, a black homeowner in South Carolina, called 911 to report a home invasion. When police arrived on the scene, Deputy Keith Tyner took less than two seconds to fire his weapon to "suppress the threat." The threat in this case was Heyward who stepped outside to greet the officers while holding his brother's gun. Though the gun wasn't pointed at the officers, Deputy Keith Tyner shot twice because Heyward didn't drop his weapon quickly enough.



Systemic racism, white fragility, and implicit biases affect us in ways we're only beginning to discover.


Tackling white fragility is the best place to start. Frank and open discussions about whiteness, privilege, and microaggressions can loosen the stranglehold these implicit biases have on our society and culture. It's easier said than done but programs, like Portland Community College's Whiteness History Month, are creating safe spaces to do just that.

