Bias test_ Carlie Daggett

I found the bias test to be very eye opening and useful to myself as an artist. Overall I don’t think I got the same experience as most taking the test. Something about the way it was structured on the laptop was difficult for me to navigate. I have some learning disabilities that I generally don’t like to talk about, but given the circumstances of this assignment, I realized I would have to provide some context.

I try to remain conscious of the  fact that I grew up in a patriarchal society of institutionalized white supremacy, and just because I have a relatively diverse group of friends and have been given the gift of education, does not mean that I am immune to the socialized norms of our biased world. Therefore, I try to diligently police myself as best I can. I am constantly asking myself questions about race, about my inner thoughts and fears. 

I lived in North Carolina for about a year and attended a pre-college program for about 21 actors in their senior year in high school. I had a teacher who genuinely had no awareness of the gender and racial bias he possessed. He was a serial title9 offender and took out so many of his frustrations and insecurities around his students. Over the course of that year I watched it take a very distinct toll on the women  around me, but most clearly upon the only two people of color in the room. That experience of witnessing such implicit bias informs the way I operate in this world and I try to incorporate it into my art practice as much as possible.