Confronting Conflicting Attitudes About Racial Bias in the United States: How Communicator Identities Shape Audience Reception

Abstract

Racial majority and minority groups in the United States often differ in the extent to which they believe that racial bias—including stereotyping, expressions of prejudice, and discrimination— has and continues to influence the opportunities and outcomes of individuals and communities across a wide variety of domains. Communication and dialogue between members of different racial groups is often considered an effective method to combat bias. Through dialogue, members of groups in conflict can learn about relevant issues, seek to understand each other’s perspectives and work together toward productive solutions. However, for a variety of reasons, people from different racial groups are often reluctant to initiate interracial dialogue to discuss racial bias, and often these discussions end with each “side” feeling unheard, misunderstood, rejected, and unlikely to make future attempts to engage. This conflict is present within a variety of organizations that seek to understand and address the challenges and opportunities associated with a diverse workplace. In this chapter, four scholars—a Black woman, a White woman, a Black man, and a White man—team up to discuss insights from their experiences in communicating research about the existence and nature of racial bias to various audiences in the United States. We conclude that various aspects of our own identities (race, gender, professional status) and motivational states (expectations, enthusiasm, uncertainty, threat) intersect with the identities and motivational states of our audiences to influence what we communicate and how we do so. We recommend that researchers and practitioners consider these intersections in their efforts to develop more effective confrontation strategies.