The famous American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher and lecturer believed that travel was fatal to prejudice as it enabled people to broaden their outlook and develop charitable views of other human beings, attributes which cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth an entire lifetime. Children’s mind is actually free from all kinds of biases, until it is programmed by their elders and social norms to see other people through colored lenses of partiality. These lenses come in all shapes that include race, color, ethnicity, language, faith, religion, gender, etc. and sizes, depending on the intensity with which these are constructed.
Unconscious bias is triggered by our brain automatically causing us to make quick judgements and assessments. These are greatly influenced by our background, personal experiences, societal stereotypes and cultural context.
People whose consciousness has arisen to a degree that elevates their standards of looking at the world in the most objective manner, fully realize the frivolity of prejudice as a term. Their approach towards life and the living has no room to judge others on such trivial grounds that shames the very idea of humanity. They are inclined to take others as they are and not as they are made to believe they are. Pre-conceived notions can lead to errors in judgement causing greater conflicts than one would anticipate while clear minds usually end up making better decisions.
As an example, a common perception in our society is that a girl (A) who is raised within the four walls of a protective home by doting parents would turn out to be modest and caring individual, something of a perfect bride material in the eyes of families looking for a wife for their men. This type of a girl would be given preference over a jet-set professional or even street-wise female (B) who could be deemed too clever, demanding, unfit to run a household and unable to handle relationships. In real life the opposite could turn out to be true. This has actually happened where Pakistanis living abroad have married their sons to A that turned out to be an utter nightmare for them when the lady stepped into their world, raising an unimaginable furor that ultimately led to their bankruptcy. Sometimes, one has to delve deeper into understanding others before giving a verdict on their character, that only a conscious thinker would do.
According to research conducted by the Imperial College London, unconscious bias is triggered by our brain automatically causing us to make quick judgements and assessments. These are greatly influenced by our background, personal experiences, societal stereotypes and cultural context. Interestingly, these are not just limited to gender or ethnicity, but can extend to other visible characteristics like body weight, height, even names. Of course, these different unconscious biases can have serious implications on our attitude and mannerism forcing us to behave differently with those against whom we hold certain prejudices compared to those for whom we have neutrality.
Underneath heterogeneous skin color, anatomy is quite homogenous.
While generally, partiality is quite abhorrent but some biased acts in our everyday life can be construed as inhuman. For example, cooking separate food and keeping separate utensils for domestic servants, refusing to allow drinking water to a person of a different faith (Muslim water, Hindu water during pre-partition days), kidnapping young girls and forcing conversion of faith (from Hinduism to Islam) as is taking place in Sindh, turning down competent workers of integrity and employing uncouth ones on racial bias, attacking worship places, treating transgender people badly no matter how brilliant they may be, body shaming obese persons, making fun of facial features for which no one can be held responsible and such other actions.
Out of all known noble professions, medicine and its related branches connected to human beings can definitely not afford to be prejudiced towards anyone. This implies that regardless of whosoever requires any form of medical attention, it should be provided with complete devotion. Underneath heterogeneous skin color, anatomy is quite homogenous.
A news item that mentioned the death of track star and a three-time Olympic medalist, 32 years old Tori Bowie and a two-time World Champion due to complications in pregnancy, drew this scribe’s attention to the grimness of racial prejudice in a country having a prominent position in the world.
It was alleged that being a woman of color, she was not attended with the same care and attention as given to a white woman. During her testimony before Congress in a 2021 hearing on Black maternal health, Dr. Tamika Auguste, an obstetrician gynecologist (OB-GYN) and a board member of directors at the American Congress of OB-GYN said: “The U.S. is the only industrialized nation with a maternal mortality rate that is on the rise, with unacceptably high rates among Black and indigenous birthing people.” She actually pointed out to the systemic and institutional racism pervasive in USA and the country’s healthcare institutions.
Bowie’s autopsy report listed possible childbirth complications, including respiratory distress and eclampsia, a rare disease where sudden high blood pressure can cause seizures and eventually coma. According to the Preeclampsia Foundation, this is one of the leading causes of maternal death in the United States and is disproportionately prevalent among Black birthing people where its rate is sixty percent higher than for white women. It is claimed that Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.
Bowie’s Olympic teammate Allyson Felix, the most decorated female track star in American history, developed severe pre-eclampsia during her pregnancy in 2018, leading to the premature birth of her daughter via an emergency c-section. Felix, who is Black, testified before Congress the following year during a hearing on the rising U.S. maternal mortality rate:
“We need to provide women of color with more support during their pregnancies,” she said. “Research shows that racial bias in our maternal health care system includes things like providers spending less time with Black mothers, underestimating the pain of the Black patients, ignoring symptoms and dismissing complaints.”