If you are human, you are biased. Bias is natural to the human mind, a survival mechanism that is fundamental to our identity. And overwhelmingly it is unconscious. Ross explores the biases we each carry within us. He explains that most people do not see themselves as biased towards people of different races or different genders, and yet in virtually every area of modern life disparities remain.

"Kit has grown up on the island of Barbados, loved and pampered by her grandfather. But after his death, Kit must leave. It's not proper for a sixteen-year-old girl to live by herself. She's heard stories about her aunt and uncle who live in the colony of Connecticut. These are the only relatives Kit knows of. So, alone and desperate, she sets sail to live with them in New England. When she arrives, Kit is shocked by the gray, damp landscape, but...

An incident at school forces sixth grader Phil Morelli, a white boy, to become aware of racial discrimination and segregation, and to seriously consider if he himself is prejudiced.

Microaggressions are brief, commonplace interactions with marginalized groups that convey a sense of hostility or disrespect toward that group. They may be small, but they can be upsetting, and they add up over time to have a cumulative negative effect on a person's mental health. Microaggressions are different for different groups, so it's difficult to make blanket statements about them; this is why an overview of all angles of this issue is so important....