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NON-FICTION ANALYSIS

“How racial bias works - and how to disrupt it”

Speech by Jennifer L. Eberhardt

Summary:
Jennifer L. Eberhardt’s TED-talk speech “How racial bias works - and how to disrupt it” speaks
about how the categorization the brain instinctively makes, seed racial bias and an indisputable,
unconscious association between blackness and crime, which even manifests in her 5-year-old son.
This unconscious racial bias is made palpable in the results from her research, which conclude a
clear racial bias at the expense of black people, in both being perceived as more suspicious and
being prosecuted and sentenced to death in proportion to the blackness of their features. She speaks
about adding friction: by pausing and questioning our wired bias and the assumptions and actions
they impel us to make.

Analysis:
Racial inequality and discrimination are still rampant in all walks of life and in all institutions in
today’s day and age. This is a result of the racial bias that have been hardwired in our brains from
the moment we start interacting with the world. The TED-talk “How racial bias works - and how to
disrupt it” by Jennifer L. Eberhardt speaks on how the racial bias form, what effect it has on black
people, and how to reduce and free ourselves from the blindness caused by it. She argues for this
through extensive use of logos and an engaging and touching use of pathos to start and end her
speech. Firstly, she starts her speech by using pathos, which appeals to the receiver’s emotions.
“(…) this man was the only black guy on the plane. (…) My son, he lifts his head up, and he says to
me, “I hope he doesn’t rob the plane.” (…) And I said, “Well, why would you say that?” And he
looked at me with this really sad face, and he says, “I don’t know why I said that. I don’t know why
I was thinking that.” (p. 1 ll. 4-11) In this heartbreaking incident the receiver is confronted with her
son’s racial bias, which makes the receiver both emotionally attentive and engaged. For the majority
of the speech she makes use of logos, but starting and ending her speech with pathos-filled stories
balances the emotional and logical arguments to whole-heartedly convince the receiver. She makes
use of a formal, intellectual style of language throughout her speech: ”We create categories to make
sense of the world, to assert some control and coherence to the stimuli that we’re constantly being
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bombarded with.”(p. 1 ll. 35-36) Her logos arguments are always delivered through well-articulated
diction and phrasing. Her use of logos to convince the receiver is the driving element of her speech.
This is very important, since it makes the speech objective and factful. Thereby her arguments seem
credible and convincing, because she doesn’t only make use of her subjective experiences of racial
bias, but she is able to present the numbers and facts from her research and deliver them in an
understandable and tangible way. She doesn’t directly establish her ethos as a sender by mentioning
her accomplishments or her social position and influence. Instead, she establishes her ethos through
consistent, insightful arguments and logic, which in turn makes her trustworthy and credible.
Additionally, her identity as a black woman and a mother of two black sons make her an expert on
the effect racial bias has on black people. Through her pathos-filled stories and logos-filled
arguments, she consistently remains calm, which contrasts with the emotionally distressing subject
that racism is. This reflects her great oratorical skill to calmly convince her receivers without
relying on emotions alone. Her body language is open, and she talks using her hands, which engage
the viewers. Her cadence is almost rhythmic and soothing because her tone of voice and
punctuation guide and elucidate the listener to her most essential points.

Her intention with the speech was to educate people on their racial bias, and how it affects racial
minorities. It is clear, that racial bias negatively affects the lives of black people because they have
been assigned detrimental characteristics, that damage their opportunities in life.
Furthermore, she wants to persuade people to question their assumptions and the ascribed identities
black people have been given. Her line of reasoning goes: “We know that the brain is wired for
bias, and one way to interrupt that bias is to pause and to reflect on the evidence of our assumptions.
So we need to ask ourselves: (…) Who do those assumptions keep safe? Who do they put at risk?”
(p. 3 ll. 99-102) The result of this strategy is clearly reflected in the results from Nextdoor. “(…) by
simply slowing people down, Nextdoor was able to curb racial profiling by 75 percent. “(p. 2 ll. 61-
62) Making people reflect on their bias, makes them question the stereotypes and inherent
characteristics they ascribe racial minorities. It is especially prevalent in the case of racial profiling,
because black people are suspected of possessing inherent felonious characteristics, that make them
suspected and prosecuted at a higher rate than white people. But making people pause and reflect
actively reduced the amount of racial profiling that was submitted to Nextdoor. Therefore,
awareness of racial bias can reduce the ramifications it has on black people, because making a
greater number of people aware of their taught, unconscious racial bias, can make them conscious
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of their prejudice and the actions they hereby take when interacting with the people who are at the
expense of the racial bias.

All in all, the speech was incredibly erudite and insightful. Eberhardt uses both logos, pathos and
established an ethos through her credibility and expert insight. Her use of the different forms of
appeal balances her arguments to whole-heartedly convince the receiver of her cause and persuade
them to implement her strategy of reflection of our assumptions and suspicion of black people,
which will reduce every day and institutional racial discrimination and radicalize our hardwired
racial bias.