What is the distinction, keeping in mind that
white Americans do more illicit drugs than black Americans? There is some indication of what you're arguing here:
But it begs the question as to why the police make most of their drug arrests in low-income minority neighborhoods in the first place when whites do more drugs than people of color. Is that driven by "implicit bias" or racism?
And, again, do you think the same cops would have had the same bias if they saw Timothy Brooks in the same park hanging out by his car, or do you think it more likely that if they stopped at all, it would only be to ask him if his car broke down or he otherwise needs help getting out of there, not if he is selling drugs? Timothy Brooks is a convicted drug dealer from Philadelphia, in case you didn't click the link.
Largely implicit bias, but likely some actual racism as well. The distinction is fuzzy... but here are a few points:
Implicit bias is generally subconscious, and the person holding the bias isn't even aware that they have it. Racism is usually more a conscious recognition that a person thinks one group is of lesser value or worth than another.
Implicit bias is internalized at very young ages, and is frequently a result of books, television, imagery, and other means of communicating "this is how it works". Most Gen-X and older people grew up with black people being portrayed in film and TV as being criminals, gang members, etc. Bloods & Crips were a big deal when I was young, and there was a lot of portrayal of inner city black people being involved in those gangs. That kind of imagery seeps in and forms our subconscious ideas of what to
expect from people based on those images. It shifts our subconscious evaluation of "likely behavior". As a result of that sort of thing, there's a general stereotype that all else being equal, black men are more likely to be violent or criminals, and white men are more likely to have made a mistake or have no ill intent. One of the effects of this is that black men who are not violent or criminals tend to be viewed as exceptions rather than representative.
If a person approaches someone with their subconscious expectation, and the person does not meet that expectation, implicit bias allows them to change their behavior toward them - they don't continue to treat that individual black man as if he's a potentially dangerous person and to treat them "normally". Racism, on the other hand, generally doesn't result in altered behavior after interacting with someone.
Another really important element of racial bias as opposed to racism is that bias tends to be held across the population, even within the people toward whom the bias is disadvantaging. Go look up the baby doll test, for example. Children, both black and white, were given two identical dolls, one black and one white. They were then asked to pick which baby is the good baby, and which is the bad baby. Almost universally, all of the children said that the white doll was the good one, and the black one was the bad one - even the black children. The subconscious stereotypes aren't isolated to just one group or the other, they span races.
