Unconscious Bias

By Michael Wenger, Senior Fellow

In all likelihood the racial disparities that still persist in the institutions of our society will not be much talked about by the two major candidates in the upcoming Presidential election.  President Obama will avoid the issue of racial bias in order not to be labeled as the African American President and risk scaring off white voters.  Governor Romney will avoid the issue because the Republican Party appears to have little interest in attracting black voters, and its policies reflect this lack of interest.

Yet, because the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has recognized the importance to our moral integrity, our economic strength, and our political stability of eliminating these disparities, it will not allow them to be totally ignored.  The Foundation recently held its second annual America Healing conference in New Orleans.  It was attended by more than 500 people, most of whom are engaged on a daily basis in trying to promote racial equity and foster racial healing in communities throughout the country.  The Joint Center, as one of the Foundation’s designated “anchor organizations,” played a significant role at the conference.

When Kellogg issued its first request for proposals under the America Healing initiative about two years ago, it received more than 900 funding requests from community-based organizations in all but one of our 50 states.  It was able to provide funds to more than 100 organizations, and it was these grantees who gathered in Asheville, NC last year and in New Orleans last month.    This year’s conference featured small group sessions designed to promote racial healing, workshops designed to inform participants about promising activities to combat structural racism, a film about Harry Belafonte’s inspiring life and a live on-site conversation with him, and plenary sessions on the generational divide, power and democracy, the work of the “anchor organizations,” and unconscious bias.

Perhaps the most compelling plenary session was the one on unconscious bias.  It featured research that illustrates the reality that most, if not all, of us harbor within our unconscious minds biases toward those from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.  According to the polling data, one of the great paradoxes of race relations in today’s American society is that the vast majority of us believe in justice and fair play for all of our citizens, but our behavior often doesn’t match our beliefs.  This disconnect shows up consistently in research documenting that, despite good intentions, school officials disproportionately punish students of color for bad behavior in schools, employers discriminate against applicants of color, and law enforcement officials disproportionately profile, prosecute, and incarcerate young men of color for non-violent crimes.

Sadly, none of us are immune from this bias.  So, in order to make our behavior more consistent with our beliefs, we must not only recognize the persistence of these disparities, we also must acknowledge our role in perpetuating them.  Until we do so, our behavior will continue to privilege white Americans while victimizing non-white Americans, and our entire society will suffer.

Michael R. Wenger is a Senior Fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. More information on Mr. Wenger and his work can be found on the Joint Center website.

In Social Security…We Trust

by Wilhelmina A. Leigh, Ph.D.

On April 23, 2012, the Social Security Board of Trustees released its 2012 annual report on the financial health of the Social Security Trust Funds (formally the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and the Disability Insurance (or OASDI) Trust Funds).  Like previous annual reports, this one contains estimates of revenues and expenditures of the Trust Funds for the current year and projections of the same for 75 years into the future.  Also like previous reports, its findings lead many to conclude that Social Security won’t be there for them when they need it.  This doesn’t have to be the case.

Many who conclude that Social Security will not be there for them support their view by citing the Report’s projection that the Trust Funds will be exhausted in 2033. They ignore the additional information that even if the current surplus in the Trust Funds no longer exists, the revenue collected by the program each year thereafter in FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) taxes is projected to cover 75 percent of scheduled benefits and administrative costs.  They also ignore the fact that between now and 2033, the United States Congress has 21 years in which to act to ensure the solvency of Social Security system.

It would serve us all well if members of Congress were to act sooner rather than later to retrofit the Social Security system to close the 75-year shortfall, currently projected to be 2.67 percent of taxable payroll (that is, all earnings subject to Social Security contributions).  It is indeed possible to not only eliminate the shortfall but also simultaneously add features that would bolster program support for the many people for whom Social Security benefits—averaging annually only $12,870 in 2010—are the major, or only, source of income. The report of the Commission to Modernize Social Security features many suggestions for achieving these dual objectives.

Rather than an invocation to doom and gloom about the fortunes of the Social Security system, the 2012 Trustees report should be a call to those who care about it to insist that we act while its green light is on, rather than waiting for the yellow light or red light before acting.  Crossing the street on the green light—in other words, in 2012, when the Trust Funds have a projected annual surplus of $57.3 billion—is the prudent thing to do.  Crossing on yellow or red—when Trust Fund reserves are nearly or totally depleted—will involve avoidable and harmful fiscal risks.

Wilhelmina A. Leigh is Senior Research Associate of the Economic Security Initiative of the Civic Engagement and Governance Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. More information on Dr. Leigh and her work can be found at the Joint Center website.