Please Say anything

What do you do when someone says something biased, or posts something? You don't even know it? Will you have private conversations with them? Will you mention something publicly?

You've probably had something racist said by a friend or colleague at work. I'm pretty sure we all said something like that. How do you react?

 If you're like most of us, you probably ignored this kind of thing. You've decided it's important to maintain the friendship and you don't want to embarrass your friend. Perhaps it's someone you're not well acquainted with and you feel awkward doing something. Or maybe at the workplace, there is someone more important than you. You don't want to lose your work then. We sometimes choose not to say anything for a variety of reasons. We hope that they might realize we said nothing. We hope they realize that we don't like these statements, simply because we're still silent.

Unfortunately, that is not the way it works. If we don't answer, then people don't change. They may even take for granted that we agree. They will take our consent as understanding and make further statements in the future. Keeping quiet could make things worse. Another horrible aspect is what remaining silent does to us. We can end up feeling awful about our silence later. We can ruminate and worry about why we didn't speak up. I certainly didn't say anything when someone else said something bigoted. Being silent left me feeling ashamed.

 in the sense of where the biased thing happened, there's a need to say something. Why do you want to say something in public? Because somebody said there was a wider audience to the biased thing. There were more people involved than just you. It's noticed that another regular research finding on confronting biased statements and behaviors. Who causes the confrontation matters. No matter what, it's important to address the bias. But if the person confronted is the target, or a targeted community member, the effects are weaker. And the person who faces prejudice can be viewed negatively. But if the confrontational person isn't the target, then the confrontation is more effective. I'm just trying to remember it. As a human, my willingness to address racial prejudice and its impact is important. Doing my part to change our culture entails more than just not telling myself biased stuff. I need to be more anti-racist. When it comes to appearing I have to confront bias. When it comes to appearing I have to confront bias. Keep in mind that speaking out can cause you to be angry with the person you confront. Living according to your principles poses certain threats

 Speaking out, however, is quite important. I recommend doing that in everything in life. I also recommend that instead of the person, I focus on words or behavior. They said something which was biased. You need not accuse anybody of being a racist. Most people don't like to consider themselves racist. Think of yourself as helping them improve their negative behaviors.

 And good things can happen when you do say something. The person concerned can change. You should be proud to act in a way that fits your values. You'll set standards for the community, too. You'll express what type of behavior is and isn't acceptable to your friends and work associates.