On the Bias

"The rules apply to everyone," I said to my homeroom student who did not want to remove his hood during the assembly. 

"Why are you making such a big deal?" he scoffed. "When literally everyone is wearing a hat."

I looked around and didn't see any hats.

"You know "literally" means something is actually true," I said. "Where are the hats?"

He turned away in a huff.

"I don't make the rules, but it's my job to make sure they are followed," I explained as we headed back to 

"The rules apply to everyone," said Kirsten Dunst as the strict and implicitly biased supervisor, Mrs. Mitchell, in Hidden Figures.

She was talking to Octavia Spencer's character, Dorothy Vaughan, about her request for a promotion. Dorothy Vaughan was visibly displeased.

"I don't make the rules," Mrs. Mitchell said, "but I do have to enforce them."

I looked over at the kid from earlier in the day, feeling a little guilty about the parallels between their interaction and ours. He was rocking in the rocking chair munching on popcorn, and if he noticed any similarities, he didn't show it.

"I am not racist,' Mrs. Mitchell told Mrs. Vaughan a little later in the movie.

"I know," Mrs. Vaughan nodded. "I know you believe that."