Keep Out!
A fascinating read! Named as one of the 100 most influential women in the UK nonprofit sector, Dr. Pragya Agarwal lives and works in the UK as a behavioral scientist, author, consultant, and speaker. In her book, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, Agarwal utilizes the field of social science to help readers understand how our unconscious biases affect the way we perceive and engage the world. Such biases may be influenced by gender, ethnicity, age, accent, looks, and even height. Opposed to explicit biases, these unintentional (or implicit) biases are those stereotypes we hold toward a particular people without being consciously aware of them. Agarwal’s bold statement is that these biases are not limited to the ignorant or blatant racist, but rather, biases impact us all to one degree or another. She writes:
Each of us form and carry unconscious biases of some sort. It’s not only the behavior of bigoted, racist or sexist people but of everyone, including you and me. So really the answer is to go to the roots, to understand the processes that shape us, to be aware, to acknowledge that we are all biased – to a certain degree – and that we all discriminate.[1]
Diving into the complexities of social science, psychology, and neuroscience, the purpose of Agarwal’s writing is simple: to learn from the past as we look toward the future to combat the biases that reinforce “the systemic biases that are entrenched in our society.”[2]
For this essay, I could not help but think back to 2016 and the political campaign for the governor of Montana. While the conflict in Syria had been brewing since 2011, it was not until the fall of 2015 that the US was in shock and horror by the image of Alan, the three-year-old Syrian boy found dead on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.[3] The image of Alan went viral and humanized the suffering of Syrians. No longer could the conflict be ignored, even in Billings, Montana. By the end of 2016, 12 million Syrians were forcibly displaced, making this one of the worst humanitarian events of its time.[4] Around this same period, several concerned followers of Jesus and myself began to advocate for the cause of refugees and ways to provide a viable relief. However, we were met with great resistance as the only two states in the US without a formal refugee resettlement office (thus, the pathway to resettle refugees) were Wyoming, the state where I was born and raised, and Montana, my home since 2009. Rolling into 2016, what hope we had to advocate for a formal refugee resettlement process quickly dissipated as rhetoric such as this was used to politicize the battle for power between the conservatives and liberals:
Sadly, the conservative right, many of whom are dear brothers and sisters in Christ whom I love, had embraced the notion that Muslims were unsafe and that by opening our borders to welcome these refugees and strangers, Montana would be overrun. Fear had taken hold, and now it was seen as an opportunity to sway a political situation. Agarwal writes, “Once these stereotypes have been developed, it is easier to maintain them than to break them.”[5] She goes on to say that when these stereotypes infiltrate media, it “quickly dehumanises individuals, makes whole groups homogenous, gives us permission to exercise our biases, and normalises such labels.”[6] Sadly, these unfounded implicit biases had taken root in Montana and plagued Christian thinking. Our fight to advocate and awaken the Church to our Biblical call to care for the orphan and stranger was put on hold, or so it seemed.
The following year, the US inaugurated our 45th President, who was known for many things, but one of them was his firm stance in opposition to refugee resettlement. Realizing that our hope to resettle refugees in Montana would require great perseverance, as a group of faith leaders, we continued the conversation by hosting Perspectives, a phenomenal 15-week course on God’s heart for the nations, collecting refugee kits to be delivered to nearby cities, leading exposure trips to Muslim nations, and hosting Q&A’s for churches, leaders, and community members regarding the refugee resettlement process. Reading Sway, I realized we were paving pathways to deal with our biases. Agarwal writes,
We need to consciously take the time to counteract these stereotypes and the environmental messages that we absorb. We need time, intention and adequate cognitive capacity and resources to be aware of the activation of stereotypes and then to significantly reduce the application of any stereotypical beliefs on others around us.[7]
Amazingly, the process is working! In October, we learned of a new doorway to resettle Afghan evacuees through a program called Sponsor Circles. Sparing many details, our faith community rallied together across denominational lines to apply to receive Afghan evacuees and more or less function as a resettlement agency. Without any government help or assistance, this process included securing the needed finances to pay for housing, clothes, food, and living expenses; volunteers to assist with ESL, getting children enrolled in school, finding jobs; and on and on the list of needs goes. In the last two months, the Billings community has been further enriched by adding two Afghan families, one family of five and another of seven. Additionally, because our community demonstrated goodwill toward our displaced friends, we are in conversations with a refugee resettlement agency looking to expand into Billings! The Lord is good. It has been a long and laborious road, but I have witnessed biases fall away as Montanans warmly welcome our foreign neighbors in the name of Christ.
[1] Pragya Agarwal, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, 2021, 22.
[2] Ibid., 407.
[3] “Death of Alan Kurdi,” Wikipedia, March 1, 2022, accessed March 8, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_Alan_Kurdi&oldid=1074721846.
[4] “UNHCR Global Trends – -Forced Displacement in 2016,” accessed March 9, 2022, https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2016/.
[5] Agarwal, Sway, 77.
[6] Ibid., 121.
[7] Ibid., 148.
12 responses to “Keep Out!”
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Eric, thanks for sharing that real story related to this interesting read! I remember driving through Montana a few years back and seeing a bumpersticker: “Welcome to Montana! Now get out!!” Many folks there really want to protect the current lifestyle. You mention the arrival of refugee families and I applaud your efforts to make that happen. Has there been any pushback politically or from any churches? You do mention faith communities working across denominational lines – was there intentionality to help facilitate that or did it happen organically? Also, I agree that Perspectives is “awesome!”
Yes, a LOT of pushback. However, I have witnessed a significant change in the last few years… at least among the church. Politically we are quite conservative, so we are still working on that front! We have a meeting with our Senator next week to this effect!
Eric: That is a great success story about the refugees settling in MT. Can’t but help to see God’s hand involved in that. Pragya would love to hear that story. Our biases are so strong and difficult for us to see clearly within ourselves, books like this help me. Are there other biases you see in your own city that effect your ministry?
Sure, lots of them! Such as, how are the people in our “low-income” community viewed, especially as they are either poor, non-white (Native or Hispanic largely), and/or have a criminal background. The odds are certainly stacked against my neighbors.
Eric: Do you think Montana would be as opposed to opening their doors to current Ukrainian refugees? It would be an interesting case study.
I think far more open. Know why? They are white! AND, MT actually has a history of Ukrainian immigrants from long ago, or so I have been told.
Challenging post.
So how do we as leaders, especially those interacting in the community, face the unconscionable unconscious bias of our neighbors, primarily when their beliefs affect the most vulnerable?
My quick response: RELATIONSHIP and PROXIMITY. For our work, proximity and neighboring those we serve is a big deal. It does not remove the biases, but it at least is confronted in the context of relationship. Hopefully in this view, we begin to see people as people, different as they (or their views) may be from our own.
Eric I am in awe of the tenacity to the work of Christ you have exhibited in Montana! I do not know this program, “Perspectives” but I will be looking into it…thank you!
Racism/Islamaphobia is indeed about fear. How do our learnings about anxiety (Friedman) and brain chemistry (Lieberman/Log) help inform the ways we can respond to these fears/biases?
Sorry for not responding! I typically respond one time, Sunday mornings before church, so if I don’t respond, that is why.
As to your question, I would say that our readings have helped me better understand people and where they are coming from, and to give them more grace as we work toward a workable solution. Yeah, I think that is it. I am less critical than I used to be, more grace-filled, but also more pointed in how I seek to foster change or transformation. Rather, how GOD might foster change and transformation.
Eric, that sounds like an amazing program. I am curious about how the rest of your Montana community has welcomed these guests. Can you explain more about how your community of faith has been able to address the biases of the larger community?
Hi Denise. I can’t remember if I responded to this. Sadly, much of the resistance initially CAME from the community of faith. Thus, the change has been slow, but it has changed! For that I am thankful. I would say that my non-Christian Montanans are quite open to the thought of welcoming refugees, Afghans, etc. Sad to say that it is the Church who is lagging in this department, at least in MT!