Very interesting provocation! I had read something very similar elsewhere about ‘unconscious bias’ being an excuse for the perpetuation of conscious bias (this week has been an intense PG Cert marathon of reading, reflection, writing… it’s all morphing into one big blob). Yes, absolutely, how much more energy, resources and time it will take for the unconscious to become conscious?

Kwhali says that she became conscious of racism when she was four, and she didn’t have to read anything. But one could argue she became conscious because, as a Black woman, she had lived, embodied experience of racism. One inevitably becomes aware of what they experience. But how can one know things they haven’t experienced? I believe unconscious bias is real, but once one has been exposed to it (heard/read/talked about it), it is certainly not unconscious anymore. And let’s face it, one has to live under a rock not to be exposed to it. Or does one?

I have been thinking about colonialism, imperialism, coloniality, decoloniality, bias and so on for a while and actively engage with resources about it so I can continuously catch my social conditioning. As a White privileged woman, I can say, it is a continuous effort to maintain my consciousness, because the society I live in operates in such a way that people like me can easily ‘forget’ or more accurately, ignore. And I fail all too often, because the conditioning is strong.

In my work at CSM, my closest colleagues and most of my students are also actively engaging with these issues (to varying degrees), so we remind each other. But when I look my immediate circle, to my wider friends in London working in finance or architecture, to my family and friends in Brazil, it is eye-opening how easy it is for them not to engage and therefore stay ‘unconscious’, even though it’s all happening under their noses and in the air they breathe. For too many centuries we internalised racism and systemic racism is all around us. Besides, being conscious does not serve white supremacy.

So the real question for me is not just how much more energy, resources and time, but which other channels? Through education we can aim to make conscious the next generations. But what about the previous generations? How can we make it impossible for them to ignore it?