Institutional racism

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Institutional racism (or structural racism or systemic racism) is a theoretical form of racism that occurs in institutions such as public bodies and corporations, including universities. The term was coined by black nationalist, pan-Africanist and honorary prime minister of the Black Panther Party Stokely Carmichael. In the late 1960s, he defined the term as "the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin".[1]

Institutional racism is distinguished from the bigotry or racial bias of individuals by the existence of systematic policies and practices that have the effect of disadvantaging certain racial or ethnic groups. Race-based discrimination in housing (see restrictive covenants),and bank lending (see redlining), for example, are forms of institutional racism. Other examples include the systematic profiling of members of certain races by security and law enforcement workers, use of stereotyped caricatures of certain racial groups by institutions (like "Indian" mascots in sports), the under- and mis-representation of members of certain racial groups in the media, and barriers to employment or professional advancement based on race.

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[edit] Examples of institutional racism

Three examples from U.S. history can help clarify the nature and effects of institutionalized racism.

  1. In 1935, the U.S. Congress passed the Social Security Act, guaranteeing an income for millions of workers after retirement. However, the Act specifically excluded domestic and agricultural workers, many of whom were Mexican-American, African-American, and Asian-American. These workers were therefore not guaranteed an income after retirement, and had less opportunity to save, accumulate, and pass wealth on to future generations.
  2. The U.S. property appraisal system created in the 1930s tied property value and eligibility for government loans to race. Thus, all-White neighborhoods received the government's highest property value ratings, and White people were eligible for government loans. Between 1934 and 1962, less than 2% of government-subsidized housing went to non-White people.[2]

These examples depend not on the individual, isolated, and idiosyncratic beliefs or biases of individuals, but rather on biases embedded in social structures and in institutions. Moreover, in the first example, no "race" was specifically named to be excluded from the Social Security Act, but the Act effectively allowed wealth benefits to accrue to certain racial groups and not to others. There need not be, therefore, any explicit intent associated with institutional racism in order for it to benefit certain races over others.

The use of standardized testing has also been termed institutional racism by some commentators, who claim that this kind of assessment is significantly biased towards people of a certain cultural and social background, with the supposed result that in much of the Western world racial minorities tend to score lower. Detractors of this view point out that the tests are usually intended to determine the aptitude of the candidate for the subject that is being tested, and if it so happens that a particular racial minority has a lower than average aptitude (just as if a particular racial minority has a higher than average aptitude) then that is simply a fact and as such cannot be racist, institutionally or otherwise.

Charges of institutional racism have been applied to other governmental, social, and educational policies as well. For example, the eagle feather law (50 CFR 22), which governs the possession and religious use of eagle feathers, has met various legal challenges and charges of racial discrimination due to the law's strict limitation of the possession of eagle feathers to members of only one ethnic group, Native Americans.

[edit] Institutional racism in the UK

[edit] In the Police Service

Further information: Stephen Lawrence

In the UK, the inquiry following the murder of Stephen Lawrence found the investigating police force to be institutionally racist. The definition of institutional racism in this context was defined by Sir William Macpherson as "the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin", which "can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantages minority ethnic people.".[3] This definition is almost identical to the one as used by black-power activist Stokely Carmichael. The Macpherson Report has resulted in the Metropolitan Police employing a number of measures in an attempt to remove institutional racism.

Recently the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair has also called the media institutionally racist,[4] a comment which provoked a heated response from the media despite being welcomed by the Black Police Association.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Analysing ethnic education policy-making in England and Wales", Richard W. Race
  2. ^ "Where Race Lives", PBS, 2003
  3. ^ "Metropolitan police still institutionally racist", The Guardian, 22 April 2003
  4. ^ "Met chief accuses media of racism", BBC, 26 January 2006
  5. ^ "Met chief labels media institutionally racist", The Guardian, 27 January 2006

3. Stokes, DaShanne. (In Press) Legalized Segregation and the Denial of Religious Freedom

[edit] External links

  1. ERASE Racism A multifaceted definition of institutional racism
  2. Institutional Racism Instructional A detailed "instructional" on the functioning of institutional racism
  3. Race: The Power of an Illusion Interactive resource tracing the history of race in America and the effects of institutional racism
  4. Defining Institutional Racism Definition and history of the term
  5. Paying the Price: The Human Cost of Racial Profiling On causes and effects of institutional racism in the Canadian criminal justice system
  6. Arabic Workers Network Eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australians
  7. Newham Monitoring Project Monitoring racist incidents and statutory response, especially policing, in East London
  8. Weaver v NATFHE (now part of UCU) Racial discrimination case - tribunal reports and documents
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