Biased Major Figures

Jennifer Eberhardt 

The author of Biased, Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt (born 1965) draws on her own experiences as an educator, citizen, and parent to illustrate the book’s empirical conclusions about racial bias. In several chapters, she shares stories she has heard in the course of her work communicating about bias with the public. These include many accounts from the domain of law enforcement; police officers, prisoners, beleaguered community members, and victims of police brutality all share their perspectives. Elsewhere, Eberhardt discusses the challenges of raising Black sons in a society still predisposed to seeing Black men as dangerous, as well as the difficulty of having frank conversations about bias across racial divides. 

Although Biased is not predominantly an autobiographical work, Eberhardt’s individual observations and experiences supplement the experiments and case studies that form the empirical background of the book. They, along with the stories of those Eberhardt interviews, serve to highlight the personal, real-world effects of phenomena observed in the lab.

Terence Crutcher 

Terence Crutcher was a Black motorist fatally shot by Tulsa police in 2016. Eberhardt features Crutcher’s story in Chapter 3 as an example of how racial bias corrodes police–community relations, sometimes with fatal outcomes. Described by his family as gentle and mild-mannered, Crutcher was killed during an abandoned-vehicle check. He was unarmed, surrounded by police, and returning to his car when Officer Betty Shelby shot him. Prosecutors attributed Shelby’s action to her fear of Crutcher, which Eberhardt sees as an instance of the “black-crime association” that stereotypes Black men as violent criminals. Crutcher’s death and Shelby’s subsequent acquittal resulted in widespread protests.

Tiffany Crutcher 

Dr. Tiffany Crutcher is Terence Crutcher’s twin sister and, since his death in 2016, an advocate for police reform. Eberhardt interviews Dr. Crutcher in Chapter 3 to get her perspective on the killing of her brother and to understand more deeply how police violence affects individuals and families. Dr. Crutcher concurs with Eberhardt that implicit bias contributed to her brother’s death and describes the police response to the shooting as patronizing and judgmental. She expresses pain and frustration at attempts to mischaracterize her brother as a “bad dude,” a “fleeing felon,” or responsible for his own death. Dr. Crutcher has since established the Terence Crutcher Foundation in her brother’s memory. She has also helped to create the Black Wall Street Memorial to raise awareness of Tulsa’s most infamous episode of racial terrorism. 

LeRonne Armstrong 

Deputy Chief LeRonne Armstrong (promoted to chief in 2021) is a Black member of the Oakland Police Department. In Chapter 4, he shares his firsthand experiences of the factors that discourage communities from cooperating with their local police. A West Oakland native, Armstrong describes his fear of the police growing up and his community’s unwillingness to seek their help for fear of making things worse. Armstrong notes that the tendency to treat everyone as a potential suspect “fuels resentment and erodes residents’ trust.” This, in turn, encourages officers’ belief that community members do not care about solving violent crimes. Having lost his brother to gun violence, Armstrong says he knows firsthand that this isn’t true but that mutual fear and distrust perpetuate a vicious cycle that ultimately benefits only the criminals. 

Bernice Donald 

Judge Bernice Donald is the main subject of Chapter 8, which shows her overcoming discriminatory treatment in high school to become the first in her family to attend college and then law school. Eberhardt presents her story as both a reminder of the challenges faced by Black students even after the formal integration of schools and an example of how some rose above these challenges to inspire others. Initially referred to as “Bernice” in the text and later by her official title, Judge Donald has made history multiple times in the US judiciary system, becoming the first Black woman to serve as a bankruptcy judge and then the first to serve as a judge in Tennessee. At the time Biased was published, Donald was serving as a federal appellate judge.