The role of racial shared reality in Black Americans' identity-safety during interracial interactions

Abstract

Black Americans often expect conversations about race with White people to go poorly, with heightened concerns about being stereotyped, devalued, and misunderstood. We propose one reason for these patterns is Black individuals' belief that their understanding of race is distinct from that of White people–that is, they do not expect to have racial shared reality with White individuals. Across 3 studies (N = 836 Black Americans), we find that racial shared reality—perceived consensus with another person about race and racism—is an important predictor of Black Americans' expectations for identity-safety during race-relevant interactions with White people. Specifically, a race-conscious cue from a White person (i.e., acknowledging racial privilege or disadvantage) versus a colorblind cue (Studies 1–3) or no cue (Study 3) increased Black individuals' felt racial shared reality with their partner which, in turn, predicted greater anticipated identity-safety interacting with them (Studies 1–3), heightened allyship perceptions (Studies 2 & 3), and increased willingness to disclose an experience with racism (Study 3). Moreover, racial shared reality explains the effect of race-conscious cues (vs. colorblind cue or no cue) on these outcomes independently of perceived similarity (Study 1), feeling understood (Studies 1 & 2), and perceived partner prejudice (Study 3). Our findings highlight racial shared reality as a critical component of productive interracial conversations about race from Black Americans' perspectives.