Introduction to Institutional Racism
Racism resides in the minds of individuals (prejudices, biases, habits), organizations (practices, policies, customs, traditions), and social structures (laws, regulations, courts, the Constitution). While ending racism requires addressing all of these areas, the "Ending Racism Resources" section of the website concentrates on structural racism.
Americans’ understanding of racism is growing just like humanities’ understanding of the structure and nature of the universe grows. In the case of the universe individuals first learn the basics of astronomy and astrophysics. Then they join a community of astronomers. This community pursues answering questions and developing new or better understandings about the reality of the universe.
In like manner, social scientists use the same scientific method to investigate the structures, mechanics, expressions, impacts, the effectiveness of various interventions, and more of racism. There are also historians who have a community of expertise. They gather oral histories and study documents from the past. They use the scientific method to understand how racism developed and what processes preserve white privileges and racism.
Finally, there are ethicists. This includes philosophers (political, classical, process, etc.), and faith-based teachers. Each of these specialties have communities that reflect on human reality, human community, and individual responsibility.
The racism section of this website encourages sharing and discussing emerging information from social scientists about the structural component of racism.
The website builds a community based on three facts that social scientists have discovered about racism.
The first is that our social organization is based on structures that humans create and sustain. This is sometimes called the social construction of reality. Regarding racism, this means people created it. People can end it.
Second, racism is cruel. Therefore, it is cruel to tell people who do not participate in the privileges that come with having white skin in America: It is very difficult to end racism because it requires completely changing the foundational structures of power, modifying who gets to determine the laws, changing who gets to organize and manage institutions, and what identity and interest groups get to contribute their ideas and receive the greatest benefits. In short, it is cruel to say because it is so difficult, we are not going to work to rewrite the foundational document of our social structure, the Constitution.
Third, racism will not just wither away. Creating a nation that is multicultural without racism is not just a problem for people of color to solve. It will take people of color and whites working together to succeed in changing the foundational structure of American society. Also, this effort depends on addressing individual prejudices and institutionalized racism. Finally, all of this needs to work in parallel with the projects of learning from those who experience barriers and empowering identity groups.