Police Recruits’ Cognitive Engagement in a Racial Literacy Education Program: Does Racial Ideology Matter?

• Published date: 01 October 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221117279
• Author: Tuyet-Mai H. Hoang,Helen A. Neville,Abisola Smith,Maria Valgoi,Michael Schlosser,Sundiata K. Cha-Jua
• Date: 01 October 2024
• Subject Matter: Articles

Police Recruits’Cognitive

Engagement in a Racial

Literacy Education Program:

Does Racial Ideology Matter?

Tuyet-Mai H. Hoang

1

, Helen A. Neville

2

,

Abisola Smith

3

, Maria Valgoi

4

, Michael Schlosser

5

,

and Sundiata K. Cha-Jua

6

Abstract

Studies suggest shorter term racial diversity education is ineffective in changing police

off‌icers’attitudes and behaviors, partly due to strong emotional reactions and resis-

tance to this type of content (Schlosser, 2013; Zimny, 2015). In this investigation, we

explored across two studies whether police recruits’racial beliefs were relat ed

to their level of cog nitive engageme nt in a racial liter acy education prog ram.

Consistent with the research hypothesis, f‌indings from Study 1 with 81 mostly

White male police recruits suggested that recruits with higher color-blind racial

beliefs (i.e., greater denial or minimization of institutional racism) as assessed in the

f‌irst two weeks of the academy were less cognitively engaged in 10 hours of racial

literacy education that they received in the training academy. In Study 2, we replicated

and extended the results with a separate sample of 74 police recruits. In addition to

completing a measure of color-blind racial beliefs at the beginning of their training,

participants completed evaluations after each of the three education sessions offered

1

School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA

2

Departments of Educational Psychology and African American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA

3

Off‌ice for Student Conf‌lict Resolution, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 61820,

USA

4

Division of Psychology and Counseling, Governors State University, University Park, IL 60484, USA

5

Police Training Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL 61802, USA

6

Departments of History and African American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign,

Champaign, IL 61820, USA

Corresponding Author:

Tuyet-Mai H. Hoang, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign,

IL 61820, USA.

Email: thhoang3@illinois.edu

Article

Race and Justice

2024, Vol. 14(4) 445-464

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/21533687221117279

journals.sagepub.com/home/raj

over the course of the police academy. Findings indicated that the recruits’level of

color-blind racial beliefs at the beginning of police academy was associated with

lower cognitive engagement in the education sessions. Limitations of the f‌indings

are discussed as well as the implications for future evaluation and racism education

programming efforts.

Keywords

diversity training, color-blind racial ideology, police recruits, racism, racial literacy

The controversy over the fatal shootings of Black and Brown people by police off‌icers

has become more visible in recent years because of social media. For example,

although Black Americans are only about 12% of the total U.S. population, the rate

of fatal police shootings between 2017 and June 2022 stood at 39 per million of the

population compared to 16 per million for White Americans, who make up about

60% of the population (Statista Research Department, 2022). The killings of Black

boys and men, including Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Philando

Castile, were documented through video recordings, yet the rates of indictment and

conviction of police off‌icers for such crimes are much lower than they are for other

crimes (Chan, 2019). More recently, the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd,

Elijah McClain, and Rashard Brooks have increased international attention to the

issue of police violence and anti-Black racism. Historically, there has been tension

between communities of color and police because of police misconduct, unfair treat-

ment, and disparities in the use of force (Balto, 2013; Geller et al., 2021; Pryce &

Chenane, 2021; Taylor, 2013).

From the aftermath of the Watts Uprising in 1965 to the global Black Lives Matter

movement, community members, researchers, and policy makers have urged for police

reform. These reforms often include “diversity training”on issues of race and racism

(Coon, 2016; Schlosser et al., 2015). Many police units have implemented such efforts.

One conclusion is clear from the dearth of empirical research in the area: There is resis-

tance among police off‌icers and recruits to learning about “diversity issues”(Barlow &

Barlow, 1993; Schlosser et al., 2015). In one of the few studies in this area, Coon

(2016) assessed the concept “diversity fatigue”to explore whether off‌icers had

grown tired of hearing about diversity issues. She found that although most off‌icers

viewed diversity education as benef‌icial, more than 50% of the off‌icers endorsed

feeling a sense of tiredness when hearing about diversity. More directly related to

this project, scholars found that color-blind racial ideology (CBRI)—or the denial, dis-

tortion, and minimization of racism—among police recruits is associated with lower

empathy toward Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), which may

in turn play a role in their receptivity to diversity education efforts (Lee et al., 2021).

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) provides a helpful explanation for

why CBRI may be inf‌luential in recruits’receptivity toward diversity education.

ELM posits that when individuals are motivated to listen to new information, they

446 Race and Justice 14(4)