Friday, December 18

Systemic Racism

Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded as normal practice within society or an organization. It can lead to such issues as discrimination in criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power, and education, among other issues.

The term institutional racism was first coined in 1967 by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton in Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. Carmichael and Hamilton wrote that while individual racism is often identifiable because of its overt nature, institutional racism is less perceptible because of its "less overt, far more subtle" nature. Institutional racism "originates in the operation of established and respected forces in the society, and thus receives far less public condemnation than [individual racism]".

Institutional racism was defined by Sir William Macpherson in the UK's Lawrence report (1999) as: "The collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour that amount to discrimination through prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people."  Source:  Wikipedia

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White People Have a Race, Too

BY JANET E. HELMS, Augustus Long Professor at the Lynch School; Director of BC’s Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture...

In this article, the author states the following:  “Being oblivious to your Whiteness contributes to racism, but by becoming aware of how you benefit from racism, you can advocate for change that will make you feel better and society a better place."
Here is what I do not really understand...
Because  I am oblivious to my whiteness as a race of people,  black people are forced to write song lyrics that encourage  black people to kill whites.

Because I am oblivious to my whiteness as a race, black people are afraid of attending white churches and praying together.

Because I am oblivious to my whiteness as a race, i refuse to create a White American Cultural Center that promotes my white race as being different from everyone else.

According to Wikipedia's definition of "institutional racism," racism (primarily against blacks because all other minorities are not complaining) exists in the (not limited to) following areas:
  1. criminal justice
  2. housing
  3. employment
  4. healthcare
  5. political power
  6. education
So...  let's suppose that White Americans get in touch with their WHITENESS and for lack of a better word, FORCE themselves to eliminate racism in each one of those 6 areas, so that:
  • blacks receive equal justice in our court system
  • blacks can buy/rent any damn house/apt they want to in any neighborhood
  • blacks will be employed equally as a demographic percentage
  • blacks will receive the same level of healthcare as whites
  • blacks will receive political power in same demographic percentage as employment
  • blacks will receive the exact same level of education as whites
NOTE:  WHITES will not try to receive demographic percentage employment on professional basketball, football, or baseball teams as a form of compensation and in the spirit of equality...

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN?
  1. Racism will not go away
  2. White people will still not see blacks in the same light as they see other minorities
  3. Blacks will still discriminate against other blacks who are lighter or darker
  4. Blacks will still sell more illegal drugs because of the easy money
  5. Whites will still make better grades even with a ROBOT teacher
  6. Blacks will still be better athletes than whites

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