An incident of bias that I can recall was in my orientation class with an African American professor. This was a full class with new students and it was a mixture of all races. This particular teacher though was very biased towards students of African American descent. At first I brushed it off as a personality conflict and I was being overly sensitive. However as the course progressed, the teacher became more aggressive towards the rest of the students in the class. She became insulting and extremely mean towards us. However, the African American students were always talking with her before and after class, she spoke "their language" and would never make them turn in work or if they did it could be late.
We were not treated equally for the entire course; fifteen weeks of this discrimination. At first I was angry, then I became sad because here is an adult that is a role model and educating children and she is exhibiting biased behaviors. There was a great group of adults for this woman to work with and get to know, but she refused because we did not fit in with her.
In order for this incident to turn into an opportunity of greater equity, this teacher would have to change her view point on people of other races and cultures. Her biases could be relayed to the other adults in the room and reinforce negative behaviors. If she could change her thoughts and views, then perhaps she would be open and meet new people and gain new insight to the world.
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