In my book, Diversity Consciousness: Opening Our Minds to People, Cultures, and Opportunities, I discuss six barriers that get in the way of success, for ourselves and others. One of the six is limited perceptions. While we may assume that seeing is believing, what we believe may also shape what we see.
Recently, a state senator from Arizona by the name of Adam Kwasman was involved in a protest rally outside of a shelter which houses undocumented children. These children entered the U.S. by crossing a border nearby. As a bus with children passed the shelter, the state senator took a picture and shared it along with the comment, “Bus coming in. This is not compassion. This is an abrogation of the rule of the law.”
He then told a news reporter at the scene, “I was actually able to see some of the children in the buses. The fear on their faces. ..This is not compassion.” He added that when you have a secure border and an immigration and naturalization process that works, you don’t see the “sad state of affairs we have now.” The reporter then informed the state senator that the bus carrying schoolchildren was on its way to a nearby YMCA summer camp. Whoops. Another reporter at the site described the children aboard the bus as laughing and smiling.
Whether Kwasman is Republican or Democrat, young or old, neophyte or seasoned politician, is irrelevant. We all struggle with our limited perceptions in our daily lives. Earlier this week, Tony Dungy, the first black head coach in the NFL to win a Super Bowl, said that if he was still a coach, he would not have drafted an openly gay player like Michael Sam because he would have created too much turmoil and tension. Simply put, he didn’t want to “deal with all of it.” Months earlier, Mark Cuban, owner of an NBA team, said that if he encountered a black youth in a hoodie, he would move to the other side of the street. He added, the same thing applies to a white guy with tattoos and a shaved head. Both Dungy and Cuban were being honest and I applaud them for that. However, both show limited perceptions.
According to sociologists, social upbringing, social position, and social context shape what we see. Social psychologists tell us that when we categorize people into social groups (“us” and “them” mentality), we are more apt to view out-groups (“them”) negatively and our own world positively. Kwasman reacted as many of us do. Initially, he was defensive and in denial. He saw what he wanted to see in the faces of those children aboard the bus. Dungy was focused on the risks Sam posed, without thinking about the risk people took in hiring him. Perhaps Cuban was more focused on the inevitability of his own prejudices rather than what he might do to correct them.
We all have work to do in this area. As I tell my students, we are all works in progress when it comes to our limited perceptions.