Lexington council members have been briefed on plans to require all employees to participate in implicit bias training.
Lexington Officer of Diversity and Inclusion Arthur Lucas told members of a council committee last week the training could begin next summer and take a year for workforce wide completion. “So when we talk about implicit bias we’re talking about referring to our thoughts and feelings that we’re not aware of that can influence our judgment and, in particular, our judgment about people that we don’t know,” said Lucas.
Lucas said he envisioned the training sessions to be a minimum of 90 minutes. Council Member Bill Farmer said he believes the introspective part of the process could be a tough thing to open up about. He called it a “great reset.”
Council Member Fred Brown questioned whether the training should be mandatory for all workers. “And you’re telling everybody that’s in our government that they’re biased. That’s basically what this is saying. Every employee, every person, every person on this screen is biased. I don’t particularly buy that,” said Brown.
Lucas noted implicit bias can have both negative and positive aspects. Council Member James Brown, who said he’d undergone several trainings, added that such sessions can help participants identify personal bias.
If you appreciate access to this important content during this global pandemic, please help us continue to provide public service journalism and information to Central and Eastern Kentucky communities. Please make your contribution to WEKU today.
