I know I grew up with huge implicit bias around people who are Black that influenced my day to day actions. While I can pause and reassess around a lot of that early stuff pretty quickly, about 4 years ago I became aware of one area that I still struggle with. Someone shared a school photo of his black son. My immediate impression was this was a senior high picture - junior year. The boy was 13 - 7th grade. 4 years in that time frame is HUGE. I was shocked by how off I was. I recognized that my first impression often sees black kids as older than they are , which can lead to all kinds of negative impacts. We expect "adult" behavior and functioning from older kids and respond to misbehavior or even just messing around in ways that are not reasonable or appropriate with younger kids. I have never forgotten that I have that implicit bias. It has changed how I see and interact with kids who are black. I never assume I know someone's age by looking at them.
